


Pounced

by CherFleur



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Accidental Exhibitionism, Aerith and Zack ship it, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Cloud's bad at emotions, Crossdressing, Dom/sub Undertones, Everyone is a little traumatized, F/M, Fic Exchange, Friends do this right, Gift Fic, Here's hoping you like it!, I'm not sure what's happening anymore I'm sorry, M/M, Mentions of Slavery, Multi, Oh god it got kinky, Oh god this porn grew plot, Oral Sex, Reno's dirty mind, Reno's dirty mouth, Stealing Cid's tea is essential to the plot okay, Strength Kink, Threesome - M/M/M, Unnecessary world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:06:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23538835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherFleur/pseuds/CherFleur
Summary: The moral of the story is this: don't be a pushover or you become an ice cream sandwich and no one will ever respect you.orCloud had been handling a life of repression and monotony just fine, thank you Tifa. Now if he could just remind his libido of this, as well as the Planet, then he would really just like to go back to being the Delivery Boy.
Relationships: Cid Highwind/Shera/Vincent Valentine (mentioned), Cloud Strife/Barret Wallace, Reno/Barret Wallace, Reno/Cloud Strife, Reno/Cloud Strife/Barret Wallace, Tifa Lockhart/Rude (mentioned)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 131





	1. Glitter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beetlebee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beetlebee/gifts).



> Another Fic exchange from discord! I'm not particularly confident in my ability to write steamy/smutty things, so hopefully this is to taste.
> 
> Your Name: FRIENDO  
> Favorite Flower: sunflower  
> 3 keywords: casino, umbrella, fraud  
> 3 characters: Reno, Cloud, Barret  
> 2 favorite spring scents: moss, rain  
> 1 genre/mood: humor  
> 1 underwhelming power: an ability to sense any and all cats in a 1 mile radius  
> Optional, fave pair or two: cloud/barret, or a mix of any of my 3  
> Okay with receiving porn y/n: y

His neck hurt.

It was rare, with the mako running through his veins more than blood, for him to feel pain like this. Not that it was really _pain_ as he knew it, his nerves adjusted to the existential burn of Lifestream flowing through his veins. He savored the tension for what it was until he remembered how strange that was to other people. Not that Tifa or the kids would care, simply happy that he’d answered his phone and showed up when they’d asked.

They weren’t nitpicky about his odd quirks, even if Tifa teased him for them.

Ah, that’s right. That’s why he was tense.

Marlene was clinging onto his leg with that single-minded focus he couldn’t help but think was adorable, her eyes big and pleading.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love her like her lamenting look implied; he did. She was sweet and learning all the best parts of growing up from Tifa rather than from Barret and _him._ Sure, she had a giant crush on Vincent, but he was fairly sure that was a phase that most young kids went through at certain points in their lives. It was better than her having a crush on Cloud, that was for sure.

Better than the unfortunate childhood crush _he’d_ had on the man who’d tried to end the world with the crazy alien genetic donor he’d called Mother.

Marlene was just… so _breakable._

While he could control his strength, he was still terrified of twitching wrong at a noise a mile down the road and tossing her little body through a wall. Tifa would listen to his worries on occasion, when he could verbalize them, but she would also roll her eyes like she wanted to pop him in the head. The only thing that seemed to stop her was the bill that came with rebuilding walls in the bar and that was only sometimes.

Considering she was physically strong as well, she understood to an extent, but she had always known her own mind and who she was at a given moment.

He didn’t think that he _would_ hurt either of the kids, but it was an instinctive fear that he couldn’t shake.

“Please, please, _please_ can you find him?” Marlene’s eyes got even larger, which _had_ to be a special technique. “He was supposed to call, and he _never_ misses a call!”

Cloud looked up at Tifa where she stood at the bar, but she ignored him easily, talking with Rude about something that made her smile and flex an arm casually. The black man was _probably_ staring at her biceps, even if the perpetual sunglasses made it hard to tell where he was looking. It was an open secret that he had a giant crush on her and liked to watch her arm-wrestle men into submission and then helped clean up the bar at closing. 

It was kind of cute, actually. Hopeless, maybe, but cute.

Usually, Reno was around working the kids up until they were exhausted. Of course, then Rude would have to carry his partner home because the kids tired him out just as much.

This time, it looked like he wasn’t there.

Which was fine.

Reno didn’t have to be wherever Rude was or where Cloud expected him to be.

It just meant that he wouldn’t have to deal with the way that the redhead would give him the side eye in a surprisingly subtle manner. Since coming down from the mountains he’d had many people hit on him because they thought that he was _pretty_ and easy prey.

This was most definitely not the case, even before the mako.

The easy prey bit, at least, Cloud had accepted that he fit into a certain bracket a long time ago.

Reno was well aware of the number of handsy assholes he’d broken over the years, however, and had never put his foot in his mouth over that particular topic. He was a mouthy little shit in other ways, though he wasn’t quite as foolish as he used to be, not after the geostigma had been taken care of.

Cloud tried not to, but he wondered where he was.

Laughter on a breeze that only he could feel, warm raindrops a phantom on his skin as flowers bloomed brilliantly behind him where he couldn’t quite see.

_Shut up, let me repress in peace._

He almost felt the large hand mussing his hair and withheld a scowl.

“Marlene…” he sighed, making the mistake of looking down at her again. “I… alright. I’ll go look for Barret.”

“Yay!” she hugged his hips before darting away. “He said he was going to stop by Gold Saucer to pick something up from a business partner!”

Oh boy.

That could end… badly, to say the least.

More than likely, Barret had gone and decided to shake down someone he had loaned money or resources to, and they had fled to the casino town. Considering he hadn’t heard anything about giant explosions on the grapevine, the man probably hadn’t had the time to do _too_ much damage in his irritation. Sure, Barret liked to have an occasional game of poker or something with friends, but he and Cid often made fun of people who gambled too much.

Bets amongst friends were different, but Barret drew up contracts with people who weren’t from Avalanche and the core group when they borrowed things from him. The only one who got threatened with it was Yuffie, and that was because she was who she was. Her issues with kleptomania were just accepted at this point as something to endure with fondness and exasperation.

Brows furrowed, he caught the package that Tifa tossed at him, her smile just a touch amused as she leaned forward in a way that proudly portrayed her deltoids. Showoff.

At least Rude was enjoying himself.

“That’s on the way,” even if he was irritated at her smugness, he knew that she would never do this _just_ to torture him. “And they have a return package for delivery on your way back from Saucer.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, ignoring the soft, wispy laughter in his ear again. “I hear ya.”

Sometimes he and Tifa fell into their Nibel dialect and no one would stop them to remind them that they weren’t understood by anyone – other than Cid – except for Vincent. Considering most people thought that they were hicks in Nibelheim, barely literate, the amusement people took out of it was generally why tables needed replacing. The only time they loudly spoke Nibel was when Yuffie was hung over or Cid was bugging everyone with a new engineering model.

There was that one time when Reeve tried to give them money, too, and Vincent had given them a golf clap.

After letting Denzel and Marlene try to strangle him with affection – Denzel was getting to the stage where hugs weren’t ‘cool’, so this was nice – Cloud stepped out of the bar and towards his bike once again.

The air tasted less like metal with the onset of new growth, plants slowly working their way out from Aerith’s Church to the rest of Midgar. Little fluffs of seeds could be seen blowing through the air and dust wasn’t quite so strangling, choking to the normal people of the world. Cloud could breathe in chlorine fumes and still be able to function alright, if only for a little while, but it was clearing up. The minor pollutants, the heavier ones… well, depending on the region, there was a reason that he was generally the only one on the road these days.

More people were risking it now, fewer monsters showing up in the more well-traveled areas, allowing for safer travel. It was always a pleasant surprise to see someone else on the road that he’d had practically to himself for so long.

Well, him, the Turks, and Reeve’s people.

Turks were made by Shinra just as much as Cloud was, however, and Reeve gave all of his people air filtration units while meticulously monitoring contaminate intake.

Still, the delivery business was pretty much Cloud’s on the ground still, and Cid’s in the air if they paid for expediency. He’d save up while he still had it nearly monopolized, because it wouldn’t be like that for long. Not with the way that the Planet was healing faster and faster these days.

Now to find a wayward friend before he fought someone to the death in Corel because that place brought out the worst in him.

~*~

Dropping off the delivery was simple enough and he had a good timeframe to pick up the return, so he wasn’t exactly dreading stepping off the line into Gold Saucer.

He did, however, feel that shiver of awareness that let him know that something was happening nearby that he should check out. 

Instinct was a funny thing, and Cloud’s were particularly well developed in finding the people he’d claimed as his own through fire and blood and tragedy. Tifa called it a pack instinct once while drunk and he’d scowled at her while Cid snickered into doctored tea, leaning against Vincent while Yuffie snoozed on his shoulder. Barret had been passed out on the couch with Marlene and Denzel sprawled across his broad chest, large arms carefully holding them in place, sunglasses firmly in place. A wholesome sight, even he had to admit.

She called it pack instinct like the wolves from back home, and everyone ran with the theme. It was exasperating.

He called it experience at herding cats and knowing when to have an alibi.

Even Vincent had given him a look, and the man hadn’t yet been turned in his direction. A betrayal from his fellow introverted friend that he still hadn’t paid back.

Anyway, he let his feet take him where they would, ignoring the eyes that strayed to him and his large sword, one of the few openly armed on the premises. Sometimes he liked to pretend that the attention was only because of the size of his sword, but he well knew that his face was known across the continent.

Hero of Midgar.

Ugh.

Cloud nodded to all the familiar faces he knew until he found himself standing in one place rather than roaming, stray cats at his feet. Kneeling down to pet them, he sighed heavily as he felt the ground vibrating rhythmically, letting scraggly whiskers press against the few calluses that had developed on his hands despite the mako.

Barret was shooting something somewhere, he could tell. There was a specific rhythm to his gun-arm that one had to get used to if in close quarters for any length of time. It also included a lot of earplugs and healing ear drums from concussive damage that Cloud did _not_ remember fondly.

Standing up with a few more pats to his meowing admirers, the swordsman continued on towards where his feet would take him.

The explosion didn’t surprise him, honestly. At least he’d managed to get here before the whole place had been burned to the ground.

The fact that Barret came barreling out of the smoke with Reno over his shoulder, however, _did_. His first thought was _Oh, there’s Reno._ Which was not helpful.

What.

“Hey, Spiky!” Barret’s booming voice called out to him _almost_ cheerfully as the Turk over his shoulder repositioned himself enough to use the gun that Cloud had rarely seen him use. “You got here just in time!”

There were other things he’d like to ask about. Like, why was Barret shirtless and covered in smudged gold paint, why was Reno in a dress that looked oddly nice on him and wearing dangerous looking stiletto heels.

He focused instead on the fact that Barret had blood trickling down from his temple steadily, cuts and probably shrapnel sticking out of his thickly muscled barrel of an abdomen. Presumably from previous explosions. He focused on the fact that Reno’s pale skin was bruised and the tattoos on his cheeks looked mottled around the damage while his eyes glowed more mako than usual.

There was something shimmery on his skin that caught that startling mako light, what did Tifa call it… highlighter?

All Turks had a few mako infusions; not nearly as many as Soldiers, but enough to give them an edge over normal baseline humans. It was weird to see any of them actually tapping into that Planet given strength to do anything, but Cloud figured it was working on healing him more than anything. Other than Vincent and Nanaki, it was strange to see the mako shine in someone’s eyes that weren’t his own in a dingy mirror.

“Barret, you missed your call with Marlene,” he told the man as he pulled his sword from his back. Reno had dropped a few men who’d tried to follow through the hole after them with sharp accuracy that was becoming of the Turk Second in Command. “And she was upset.”

The gunner looked comically tragic at the announcement and Reno freed up a hand to pat him on the head comfortingly. The action smeared paint and what looked like glitter against dark skin, and caught in his close-cropped hair, but Barret didn’t seem to notice or care.

“Don’t worry Big Guy,” his voice was a little hoarse, but it still had that Midgar street slide that reminded Cloud of Aerith. “I’m sure she’ll forgive you. It was lost to a good cause.”

“Yeah,” he perked up and rotated his gun hand. “It _was_ a pretty cool explosion.”

“All kids like explosions!”

Oh, no. Were they _friends_ now?!

“What is _happening_?” of course, Cloud meant more along the lines of why were these two suddenly so buddy-buddy and he was getting an eyeful of things he wasn’t prepared for. That didn’t mean he’d get answers for what was going on with that, but he’d take why they were busting through walls and using phones as explosives. “Why are you in Saucer, Reno? I just saw Rude at the bar!”

“Ogling Tifa on his time off,” Reno _tsk_ ed as Barret set him down on his heels, which he stood in with more grace than he normally portrayed in _flat_ shoes. “Sounds like my partner’s havin’ a grand old time with those vacation days. If he doesn’t finally get up the nerve to ask her to crush him between her –”

“Reno!”

“– thighs…” 

Rolling kohl rimmed mako bright eyes that were slowly fading – was it adrenaline? – Cloud finally noticed the makeup on his face, lipstick mostly smeared away. Why.

It was too…

His eyes looked really…

Fuck.

“Calm down, Soldier Boy. Was just bustin’ a sex trade ring, y’know? It’s not all respectable like the Lady Houses and they were takin’ people that your boy Reeve was keepin’ an eye on. Homeless people an’ the like. Reeve called Big Boss and Tseng sent me to take a look,” he slapped Barret on the chest while he put a few rounds into stragglers crawling out of the hole. “Ran into Chocolate Mountain here while he was danglin’ a fool over the side of a building waiting for money or sense to fall outta him. He agreed to watch my back and pull me out if I got into a tight spot.”

Flicking a glance over the bruises on Reno’s throat, face and apparently knuckles, the slinky dress was deep green and a bit torn, allowing a few more bruises and gashes to show. Yeah, he’d say that something had gone wrong, and without Rude to back him up like usual, things had probably not been what he expected in the first place. Why had Tseng sent Reno without backup at _all_? Being Second didn’t mean that he was superhuman or anything.

He could understand why he hadn’t sent Elena – Vincent would have disemboweled him if his favorite Turk was hurt – but someone as a handler?

No one?

He’d chosen _Barret_ to back him up?

Sighing heavily, Cloud ran a hand over his face and looked up at the sky, barely noting the thickness of the clouds above him.

Honestly. It really was like herding cats.

Really shiny cats, currently, but still cats.

“Okay,” stepping forward, trying not to think of the way that Reno’s pale, long fingers looked against the darkness of Barret’s well-muscled chest, Cloud conceded. “What’s the plan?”

“Aw, knew I could count on you, Cloudy!”

~*~

It turned out that the plan involved getting Reno somewhere that they could use a materia on him and pick up his gear and finding a shirt that would fit Barret. Both of them had cleaned up a bit, but they both still… gleamed a bit in certain lights.

The seams creaked a bit on Barret’s borrows shirt, and the way it stretched was obscene enough that Cloud almost wished that he wasn’t wearing it at all. From the look that Reno gave the gunner, he was the reason that all of Barret’s baggy shirts had suddenly disappeared.

Reno, of course, had seemed perfectly at home in his slinky little dress until Cloud had pointed out the holes in it in a fit of desperation. He had come here to check on his friend and he was honestly feeling pretty ganged up on here by his libido and this entire situation. 

Then, _of course_ , he simply stepped out of it showing that he was wearing equally as slinky lacy panties, long pale lines of muscle and only in _the fucking stilettos_ –

Cloud had turned his head away for fear that he might explode with emotions that were normally firmly repressed but all he saw _there_ was Barret rolling his shoulders to work the healing kinks out. The thing about healing with materia was that you had to remove foreign material from the body before doing it, or it got healed over. So, the phantom feeling of tight black skin over thick muscle that tickled his palms was very real, from pulling shrapnel out of his friend.

Fucking herding _cats_.

Barret was absently, appreciatively watching Reno kick off his dangerous shoes carelessly and step into his suit pants still wearing those Planet damned panties. They’d wiped most of the makeup off his face at the same time as they’d cleaned gold paint and plucked metal from Barret, so he was pale and sharp faced once again. As always, the marks on his cheekbones drew the eye, and now Cloud found himself looking for that familiar glimmer in a familiar face.

Though his eyes were mostly blue, there was a jade undertone to them that Cloud actively tried not to notice when he knew Reno was checking him out.

Now, though, when they watched him out of the corner of an eye with a small, sly smile, Cloud suddenly felt like he’d been cornered.

If these two were cats, then Reno was the stray who taunted playfully before taking a bite out of you. That would make Barret a mangy old cat that normally lived inside but liked to get out and hunt some birds once in a while.

Between the two of them right now, he was certainly starting to feel like the bird in that scenario.

“Okay,” rare though it was, Cloud was the one to break the silence. “What now?”

“Now I call Tseng, then he calls Reeve and some’a his WRO officers come down and bust these assholes with the stuff I got,” he spun his magna rod on the strap before tucking it away. “Us Turks’re a little short staffed, if ya didn’t hear.”

“I downloaded the stuff on that main computer before you signaled, too,” Barret said, taking a seat on the couch in the hotel room he and Reno had apparently been using as a basecamp. “Dunno what it is, but I’m sure Reeve can make heads or tails of it.”

Reno grinned sharply at Barret and held his hand up for a high five that was returned with not nearly as much strength as the black man normally used. It seemed that Reno was firmly in the friend category if not… another category that he really wasn’t going to be thinking about because Cloud did _not_ sleep with his friends.

Barret was his friend.

And Reno was almost a friend and tentatively an ally even if he could be a smartass sometimes.

“So, nothing, basically,” Cloud said flatly so that he didn’t have to watch the two of them sharing a victory. “That means I can go?”

“Hey, hey, we still gotta go get summa the ladies an’ boys outta there,” Reno shook one of his long, thin fingers at him playfully as he reached down to grab what looked like grenades. Yeah, he was starting to see how the two of them could get along. It was a good thing that Cid wasn’t there, honestly. “A few of ‘em were in a bad way.”

That was something that Cloud could do.

“Lead the way, then.”

“Yessir!” snapping a sloppy salute that horrifyingly reminded Cloud of his days as a cadet, the redhead sauntered passed him, hips swinging. “I’ll get right on that!”

He wasn’t aware that he’d been staring at the other man’s ass, thinking of those _unfortunate_ panties until Barret’s heavy metal hand set down on his shoulder. Blinking up at the man in surprise, Cloud felt heat rise to his cheeks uncharacteristically at being caught out. Instead of teasing, he got a nod of solidarity and understanding before Barret patted his shoulder and followed out the door behind the Turk.

Shit. Cloud was definitely in trouble because…

Because he also couldn’t help but watch Barret walk out and think about how Reno had called him Chocolate Mountain and how that definitely fit. He generally didn’t think about things like that, but if Barret was chocolate then Reno was strawberry, and chocolate dipped strawberries were a guilty pleasure of his.

His carefully cultivated relationship boxes were getting smashed into smithereens by gold paint and sharp stilettos.

Groaning, he smacked his head on the wall for a second before following after because that was just what it seemed like he did with these two combined. He was having an off day and he just wanted it to end.

_You can stop laughing at any point, Aerith._

~*~

Of course.

Of _course,_ it was raining when they got back outside.

Barret’s already plastered shirt was suddenly adhered to his skin and the white of Reno’s half buttoned dress shirt was suddenly sheer. Red hair stuck to his cheeks in a way that shouldn’t be alluring and when Barret stretched his arms over his head his shirt stuck up higher, giving a view of the hard cliff face of his abs and the dark trail of hair leading down.

Gritting his teeth, enraged by the way that the world liked to laugh at him – looking at you, Aerith, Zack – Cloud busted through the remaining walls quickly. He could hear Reno and Barret chatting behind him, laughing and pointing out previous damage and congratulating each other. Every time he glanced back one of them was _looking_ at the other or _touching_ the other between smacking down the rabble that got past Cloud.

It got his blood up in ways he’d rather avoid, but it helped them get to the captives easier, so he guessed there was a bright side to everything. Even sexual frustration.

He’d never been this close to popping a Limit Break so quickly before, and he hadn’t even _done_ anything to require it. Energy was licking off of his skin in invisible waves, steam sliding up his body in a way that made his skin prickle with awareness. Cloud hadn’t been touched by someone in the way that he was imagining them touching each other, _being touched by them,_ in a long time.

This needed to be over soon, or he might just spontaneously combust out of sheer frustration. Yes, he was glad that Barret wasn’t going off on a guilt trip about the reactor. Yes, he was glad that Reno wasn’t trapped in an underground sex trafficking ring. Yes, he _guessed_ he was glad that the two of them were getting along and not murdering each other the way Avalanche and Turks tended towards trying.

But could they just… stop looking like that?

Ugh.

By the time that they had finished with the rabble and had them all trussed up for the WRO Cloud felt like he was literally vibrating out of his skin. There was no reason to pop his Limit and nothing worth even expending _half_ of the energy he had pent up.

He could see the brilliant glow of his own eyes against the tops of his own cheeks, so he closed his eyes and set his sword into the ground, clenching his fists rhythmically. There was no one else around in this tucked away spot and his heart was pounding harsh and quickly in his chest, making his lungs hunger for oxygen in preparation for violence that didn’t need to happen. Oh, this was not fun.

Outside in the rain as he was, he could feel the calming touch of people long gone sizzling with the steam, little comforts when he was having trouble controlling himself. Reaching a hand out to the side, he pressed against the brick of the building, the rough texture drawing his attention away from the humming burn in his veins. To top it off, he felt the brick slowly start to crumble from his mana.

Shit.

“Hey there Blondie,” Reno sounded closer than he should be without Cloud noticing, and it made him open his eyes to stare into the Turk’s own. “Looks like you could use a hand.”

Opening his mouth to tell Reno to go away, he felt energy lick between his teeth like ether, so he grimaced instead, near hypnotized by the slow rolling walk as the other man approached him.

His blood surged again, different from the burning of Limit, and he was reminded of the frustration that had gotten him to this point.

“Holdin’ back your Limit is a bitch,” the redhead said in a lower tone that didn’t grate on Cloud’s oversensitive ears. “Especially the more power you’ve got. It’s like punchin’ yourself in the face a few times.”

He wanted to ask how Reno knew, but couldn’t make himself unglue his jaw again, afraid of tasting his own energy snapping out again. Instead, he watched in a fog as the Turk stopped with barely any space between them, letting Cloud feel the vibration of his existence against the edges of mana haze.

“Let’s ease this off for you, huh?” looking almost gentle and sounding almost sweet, Reno reached up and cupped Cloud’s jaw, not twitching or flinching at the burn of Cloud’s power. “Can’t let you blow off in the middle of the city like a mako bomb.”

“I got your back, Spiky,” Barret had stepped up behind him while Cloud was distracted by Reno, setting a hand on one shoulder and the other on his waist. “You need anything just let me know.”

Pale thumbs gently slid over his cheekbones and beneath his eyes, catching flickers of the light his irises gave off and Cloud shivered. Energy and steam were still licking off of his skin like he was going to cook himself alive and really, if he’d wanted to resist what they were offering and suffer in silence he would have.

But.

Well.

Cloud had always had a soft spot for the cats that he kept herded, and even if they bit he’d survived worse.

And they’d been taunting him for _hours_ already.

The close proximity to his mako infused Limit had the mako shining in Reno’s eyes again, although with nowhere near the intensity that it shone in his own eyes. It made his eyelashes halo prettily, the markings on his cheeks standing out broadly as damp hair curled against his skin, remnants of makeup a soft glimmer.

Leaning back against Barret, Cloud sighed and licked his lips, giving a short nod.

Reno’s lips were soft and cool in comparison to the heat that was wafting off of Cloud in waves, skin heating quickly and pink pooling in his cheeks at the energy that bled off into him. The solid warmth of Barret’s steadiness behind him was a comfort even as he fed his energy into the mako that flowed in the Turk’s blood.

He'd been friends with Barret for a long time; his dedication was reassuring.

The sound that came out of the redhead’s lips, that shaky inhalation of pleased surprise had Cloud prying his hand off of the crumbling wall to wrap it around the back of Reno’s neck to hold him in place. Hair slid cold and damp over his fingers even as he noticed the rain tapering off, felt steam lifting off of skin a shade paler than his own from lack of sunlight. Without thought he twisted that hand to wrap that infuriating ponytail around his palm before cupping the back of his skull and sliding his tongue into Reno’s mouth.

Behind him, still bracing him steadily in place, Barret made a sound of appreciation, deep in his chest where Cloud could feel it vibrate against his hypersensitive skin. Tearing himself away from the sweet slide of the Turk’s lips and tongue he tipped his head back against a wide shoulder to look up into dark features. The faded scars on his face and the warm honey of his eyes were hot in ways that Cloud had never seen before as he looked between the two younger men glowing with Planet’s light.

His lips pulled back from his teeth in what was more of a silent snarl than a grin and he rolled back against the hot hardness he knew he would find. Took pleasure in the way that pupils dilated to consume the pretty honey color and how teeth pressed into plush flesh as Barret stared down at him.

All of their hearts were pounding so hard, so quickly. It was mesmerizing.

Heat built in his stomach instead of his skin and blood and Cloud pulled Reno in again to taste his mouth once more. Pressing his appreciation for pale hands sliding down his chest to the bottom of his shirt into the redhead’s blood, he felt his mana flex.

Shakily gasping against him, those thin gun callused hands slid over the dips and ridges of the swordsman’s abdominal muscles. Grabbing Barret’s hip with his free hand he pivoted the three of them to press Reno against the wall his energy had been eating through only a minute before.

It took nothing to hook that hand under one of those lean pale thighs and lift Reno so that his legs hooked on his waist and Barret’s arm behind him. Pressing forward enough with his hips to keep the Turk where he wanted him, he flicked off his harness and reluctantly let go of silky quickly drying red hair to pull off his high-necked shirt. Tossing it without looking, he knew that it had landed on his sword’s hilt to hang there until they had finished _burning_ off this energy.

Finally, Barret let his flesh hand slide over the exposed skin while Reno moaned and licked his reddened lips, pulling Cloud back in to taste once again.

Fingers dug into hair, his and others, teeth pressed into his throat and he vaguely worried about the structural integrity of the wall behind Reno. A metal hand slid over his throat to tip his head back and plush lips and wiry hair pressed against his mouth while the other large hand slid over his peck and rubbed at a nipple. When Barret pulled back from the kiss Reno hooked his legs over Cloud’s hips just enough to lean forward while the swordsman took his weight to kiss him as well. Pressed between dark and pale, the Turk’s shirt fully open now and on display for Cloud’s hands to explore freely, he watched teeth and tongue and lips flash above him.

They pulled apart and Cloud leaned his shoulders back to get room to maneuver, letting Barret take some of the weight even if he didn’t need to.

After getting their pants undone it was a flurry of hands and grinding, Cloud’s hands dug into brick while Reno had his arms around his shoulders, panting into his ear, Barret’s flesh hand on their cocks. The older man ground against the swordsman’s back while he pumped them, his head drooped to breath heavily into Cloud’s other ear while he held all _three_ of them up. Barret leaned against him, Reno clung to him and Cloud was completely overwhelmed by the sounds, the feeling, the heat between them.

If he thought about it, he could probably pinpoint which of them popped off in what order, but he was mostly occupied blinking spots from his vision as his mana dispersed, pressure undone at his release.

Well, that was a new way to deal with a stoppered Limit Break.

It took a minute for everyone to catch their breath, and Cloud ended up using one hand to keep Reno from falling limply to the ground. Barret managed to recover so that the blonde could step back from the wall and set the shaky, melted, and gooey looking Turk back on his feet.

Reno pulled a cloth out of his pocket to wipe them both off, taking his time with Cloud’s abs, which was a little amusing and he couldn’t help the fondness in the thought.

When he turned around, it was to find Barret shucking his pants to yank off his briefs which had been soiled by his grinding and feel something low in his gut tug. Barret was a large man. It only made sense. Still.

Reno whistled.

“Well, shit,” he muttered, eyes still shining mako bright with Cloud’s excess energy. “Chocolate Mountain is definitely one I’d like to conquer.”

Smacking the Turk in the chest was an absent-minded chastising movement as he tore his own gaze away, absently enjoying the yelp even as Barret sent them a smirk. Yeah, he’d heard that. Oh boy.

“I’ve got other virtues as well,” the gunner joked, smirk turning into a playful grin on mobile dark features. “And I’m thinking we should _probably_ leave this little nook after that light show.”

Ah.

Right.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Cloud slid over to his shirt and harness, quickly sliding both on and back into place and slinging his sword up onto his back.

Reno gave an exaggerated sigh of disappointment and Cloud rolled his eyes even as the corners of his lips tugged up. Well, there were worse things than being appreciated by someone who he could _probably_ call a friend without breaking out in hives. There was still that fondness and trust with Barret, and Cloud didn’t think that a little fooling around had changed that between them, even if it had perhaps added a new dimension.

Glancing over, he watched those still bright eyes crinkle at the corners with a laugh as Reno fixed his tangled hair into something nicer. Cloud remembered the way it had felt against his palm, wrapped around his hand, and felt his tongue slide over his teeth. Barret tugged at his too tight shirt and grinned down at the redhead, large flesh hand reaching out to help with the tangles; the metal one had a cover for when Marlene wanted braids, but he didn’t carry it with him.

Yeah… friends.

_I’m really good at denial. This should be fine._

“Alright,” both of them turned to give him their attention immediately, and something in his gut tugged again at that. “I’ll give you a boost, Barret.”

“Yeah, yeah, more rooftop bullshit,” was muttered with good natured grumbling. “I ain’t no ninja, y’know.”

“We’re all well aware,” was his dry reply. “Now come on.”

Cupping his hands, Barret stepped into them with his large boots and Cloud gave him a gentle toss upwards so that he could land on the roof. A questioning glance had Reno shaking his head before making his own way quickly and elegantly up the side of the building to the roof. Shaking his head in amusement, the mako infused swordsman leapt easily up onto the roof beside them.

Making his way across rooftops was practically second nature at this point, and it seemed that the urban jungle was where Reno really shone. Parkour was apparently a must have for the Turks because it honestly reminded him of how Vincent tended to move, just without that odd liquidity that the ex-Turk had. Barret was decidedly a man built for the solidity of the ground and couldn’t make most of the jumps unaided.

It was simply easier to toss him.

“Y’know,” Reno sounded thoughtful after the latest toss. “Don’t think there are many people stronger than our boy there.”

“Hmm?”

His eyes slid over slyly to look at Cloud and he felt an inkling of understanding suddenly shade his features, probably only because of what they had so recently done. He remembered Barret leaning on him, taking his weight with ease, and wondered if perhaps that was his first hint.

He’d been picking up and moving Barret as needed for years now.

The new connotations were… interesting.

“Huh.”

“Mhmm, that’s my thought.”

Reno took off again and Cloud followed.

Yes, that was certainly a thought, especially combined with the way the two of them had reacted to him earlier as well.

Taking charge and strength, huh.

Well… Cloud wasn’t exactly _opposed_.

~*~

As always, seeing Fenrir where he left it was a relief.

Settling on his seat, he disassembled his sword to put it back into its specialized compartments, looking up at Reno in amusement when he perched on the front end of the bike.

“So, you headed back to Midgar?”

“Mm. Gotta pick up a delivery.”

Barret was dusting moss off of his backside from where he’d slipped on a less maintained rooftop and the earthy scent wafted over. The twitch of Reno’s nose told Cloud that he smelled it too, even as he watched those slim shoulders relax a little, he felt his own do the same.

They watched the song and dance for a moment and helped him make sure he didn’t still have any moss on his backside. It was only friendly looking out for one another, of course. Not an excuse to look at Barret’s ass that the man himself had given them by taking advantage of an otherwise humorous fall.

“But you’ll be headed back soon enough?”

Eyeing him curiously, Cloud tilted his head to the side while he studied the Turk, Barret was using Cloud’s cellphone to call Marlene to reassure her that he was alright.

“Yeah,” Cloud paused, watching the micro fluctuations in slowly dimming blue-green eyes. “Why?”

“Well,” the Turk’s lips slid into that sly smile he was so familiar with, but more playful than he had ever seen it directed towards him. It thrilled something that Cloud was allowed that now, that it took a little bit of letting his guard down and suddenly he got to see this. He’d always had so many problems connecting with people, it was still a thrill when he managed it. “I was thinking we could have a treat again.”

“Treat?”

“Y’know,” he grinned, sliding a little closer. “Like Neapolitan ice cream.”

He blinked for a moment before the insinuation registered and his cheeks heated, a hand coming up to shove Reno off of his bike. The redhead cackled as Cloud pulled his goggles down over his eyes and checked everything was secured properly.

“I’ll take Big Boy Barret home for you!”

Fenrir roared to life under him and Cloud put his teeth in his lip for a minute before he spoke, muttering under his breath.

“ _Maybe_.”

“Wait, wh – _really_?”

Wheels spinning was the only answer that he could give in the face of that.

~*~

Stepping into Seventh Heaven he immediately felt his whole face twitch.

There was a gallon of a _certain kind_ of ice cream on the counter. Damnit.

“Did you have a nice _ride_ , Cloud?”

Baring his teeth at Tifa’s smug face, Cloud bit back at her blatant taunting.

“Did _you_ enjoy riding Rude?”

The walls they broke in the ensuing brawl were worth the cost that came out of the savings account, and there was nothing quite like Tifa trying to knock out his teeth. She gave as good as she got and both of them were lucky; they weren’t actually trying to murder each other, and the kids were used to this.

When they were nursing their bruises and done sweeping up, they sat at the remnants of the bar and ate ice cream and drank some of Cid’s tea stash.

She set his cellphone on the counter between them and Cloud felt his stomach drop.

Ah. Well. That explained that. He hadn’t even noticed the lack of vibrating at a new call because he normally ignored it anyway.

“Did you have fun? Seriously?”

Ducking his head, Cloud smiled, a little confused but mostly intrigued by what the future could bring. As Tifa attacked her ice cream Cloud checked his phone over and saw that Reno had officially added his number to his contacts.

Red Delicious.

And he’d relabeled Barret as Big Babe, which was better than he’d honestly expected. He’d feared the worst, considering who was messing with it.

“Yeah, I did. You?”

Rain echoed against the ground outside and the few windows that remained after their tussle, sending the scent of metal and dust wafting into the bar.

“Yeah,” she smiled, blushing slightly, eyes warm. “I did.”

“I’m glad.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud is indecisive but that's nothing new. He's also a bit of a pushover with his family, but that's also not new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAHAHAHA

~*~

Parked next to the Buster Sword, Cloud stared down at his phone, considering.

Reno hadn’t been to the bar since the incident in Corel, Rude had been by a few times and said that his partner was fine. Barret had at least called to complain about the idiots he worked with, which was always fun and didn’t require much input from Cloud.

He hovered over the contact Red Delicious – he hadn’t put in the minimal effort to change it – before putting his phone away with a sigh. Thunking his head down against the handlebars of Fenrir, Cloud was aware that he was being a little shit about this, as Tifa had put it. It was just.

He’d liked it.

The press of bodies on both sides of his own, the easiness between them. Pale lips locked with his own and a solid body behind him that couldn’t hold him if he didn’t _want_ to be held in place, hands slim and thick running over his skin.

They’d laughed together afterwards, and he liked that.

Barret wasn’t the kind of person to push in personal matters, not with Cloud, not after all they’d been through, so he wouldn’t give Cloud the options that Reno had pushed him to. Unlike the Turk, the gunner was a blunt personality, blatantly honest where the redhead was easily cunning and more willing to play around at his own expense.

Well, Cloud was aware enough to know that he _needed_ that needling to do things sometimes, it was why Tifa was constantly picking at him.

So.

Banging his head against Fenrir’s armored handlebars wasn’t the best way to handle this problem, but it was all he could make himself do just yet. Calling was out of the question because he had so many problems even communicating _face-to-face_ let alone over a cell where they couldn’t read his expression. Sure, Cloud was sure that Reno would natter on the way that Barret did, but while he enjoyed his calls with Barret for what they were, it…

Human interaction was so fucking difficult.

Sitting up with an aggrieved sigh, he stared down at the dry, thirsty earth below the ledge, spotting little points of green breaking through the dead ground. It had been raining more these days, starting to feel more like the spring that Cloud remembered from the mountains back home. Sure, it hadn’t been as warm there, but he remembered spring rain bringing in new growth.

 _New growth, huh?_ Shaking his head, he pulled his goggles back down over his eyes. _I really need to shape up_.

Phantom wind at his back felt like encouragement carried by laughter and he rolled his eyes even as he revved his bike’s engine.

_Enough out of you!_

~*~

As luck would have it, he ran into Reno quicker than he’d thought he would.

There was an exposed mako pool that Reeve had asked Vincent to take a look at, but Cid had reminded him he’d promised to help Shera pick out furniture. They had confoundingly domestic relationship, the three of them, but they seemed comfortable enough just bossing each other around and drinking tea over anything else.

Cid had looked at Cloud and raised a brow while fiddling with a lollypop because he couldn’t smoke inside.

Naturally, he’d caved like the little bitch Tifa called him sometimes and was now standing in front of a seething wound in the Planet with his hair standing on end uncomfortably. Sometimes getting scolded by Cid was like getting a talking to from his Ma, and he’d started to react to the expectant looks in a similar manner.

He tried not to look to hard at that.

This was simply his lot in life, running errands for the people he cared about, no matter how menial or potentially dangerous. Delivery Boy Cloud, ready for duty.

“Hey Blondie,” twitching at the sound of Reno’s voice amongst the meandering WRO agents, Cloud turned. “Long time no see.”

“Reno.”

For a terrible moment Cloud feared that it would get awkward before the redhead waggled his brows at him ridiculously, pulling a smile to his lips. Rolling his eyes but feeling lighter, he turned back towards the multitude of grunts and scientists who were roaming around in the crevasse below. He let the Turk throw an arm over his shoulder with the care it took not to hook on the hilt of his sword, his comparatively minimal weight leaned against the swordsman.

The warmth of him was different from the chill of rain and the burning of mana, and it was a little bit soothing. The people who normally touched him – other than the children – did so briefly and companionably, not just leaning into his side like this.

It was… nice.

That was part of it, wasn’t it? He was skin hungry, and they’d given him what he’d been starving of for so long with such ease.

Everything would be so much easier if he new how to fucking _ask a question_ without feeling braindead.

“Y’think our girl can close this up proper?” was asked nearly into his ear. “’Cause I’d rather not let the science types give it a go, what with the chance that shit could explode.”

At that, Cloud raised a disbelieving brow, enjoying the put-upon expression and dramatic hand to his half bare chest that the man gave him.

“Hey!” Breathy with affront, Reno’s expression was perfectly in character. “I can resist blowing shit up!”

“Mm.”

“The accusation!”

“Reno.”

Sighing and releasing the act, the Turk leaned more firmly against Cloud who easily took his weight and waited patiently for an answer.

“So, uh. It’d be nice to know, since we’ve found a few spots where the mako’s broken through like this and I’d like to stop babysittin’ ‘em.”

Blinking in surprise, Cloud frowned, thinking.

He didn’t doubt that Aerith could do something about it, could teach him how to seal up these mako pools. It was simply a matter of asking and it didn’t feel like she was currently listening so it would have to wait for a better time. Unless he deliberately asked for her attention, which was always hit or miss.

“How many?”

“Like five?” his freehand waggled from side to side. “Seems like a new one is found every week or so. Boss and Big Boss have been working on organizing shit with Reeve, so I’ve been in charge of managing all the bullshit on site.”

Studying the redhead, he _did_ look a little tired now that he knew what he was looking for, the capillaries under his eyes bruised and his lips paler than usual. Not that he was staring at his mouth. Or anything.

Oh god Cloud hated everything.

“Hmm. Can I get closer?”

“Sure,” Reno shrugged, standing on his own again and Cloud tried not to miss his meager weight and comforting warmth. “Just about the only people who can without stupid expensive suits’re you and me, anyhow. I mean, I wouldn’t survive a dunk like you would, but I can handle some splash back with only a few symptoms. C’mon.”

So the two of them stepped down closer to the pool, passed the WRO agents who were still running around taking samples and running tests. Setting up barriers and containments and emergency tents in case someone was exposed to the lifeblood of the Planet.

The Turk stopped a few feet from the edge and Cloud knelt at the edge, studying the ground around him and the flow of the mako. He wasn’t an expert, but it looked like erosion of the crust beneath the surface from the mako stream, as if a riverbed had suddenly expanded.

Hovering a hand over the near burning liquid he ignored the unease of the WRO agents behind him, focusing instead on the steady regard of Reno. His heartbeat never flickered, never changed, entirely trusting that Cloud knew what he was doing.

It’d be a little uncomfortable to touch the mako, but he’d been fully submerged enough times that he was practically immune to this stuff these days. Practically did not mean _actually_ , but just a little wouldn’t do more than maybe give him a muscle cramp.

It burned like fire and dry ice for a moment, as if the skin were peeling from his fingers to gelatinize his bones, before it went numb and –

_“Cloud, what are you doing?”_

_There’s something wrong,_ he thought back through the sudden winded pressure in his chest. _Mako springs are popping up out of nowhere._

_“Hmm, well, that’s not right!”_

Sweet laughter and a considering hum, Zack muffled in the background, heard only through Aerith.

_“Don’t worry, I’ll look into it!”_

_Thanks, Aerith._

_“Of course! Now get out of the mako, silly!”_

Pulling back from the pool he took a deep breath and felt his skin shiver like an animal twitching flies away from their hide, eyes glowing again with energy.

Looking up at Reno, Cloud was mildly amused by the exasperated disbelief on those sharp features, enjoying the way that the redhead shook his head this time. It was nice not to be the only one who couldn’t believe what happened in their lives these days, and the Turk normally wasn’t thrown. Well, not by Cloud in any other capacity than in physically throwing the guy a few times.

Pretty sure that Reno had liked it, honestly. The throwing.

“Y’good?” despite asking, Reno didn’t step forward worriedly like Tifa might have and instead eyed his mako covered hand warily. “Need a towel?”

“Sure,” Cloud shook some of the thick liquid off into the pool before walking away from the slowly crumbling edges. “Better to wipe it off now than absorb it.”

He had enough problems, really.

Getting some other weird mutation from pure Planet blood was really not on his to do list, when he’d managed to avoid the worst of them.

After he’d wiped off his hand and washed it under the worried eye of a WRO medic, Cloud found himself getting tugged over towards solid ground by slim fingers tangled with his own. Odd, that despite having had sex with the man and daydreaming about the way that he so casually wore lace panties underneath his suit pants, that it was _hand holding_ that brought heat to his face. Cloud's palms were broader, fingers thicker even if he didn’t have as rough of hands as he should, and Reno’s rod and gun calluses were soft enough that they could be easily dismissed.

Probably an undercover thing, having seemingly pampered hands.

Letting himself be pushed down into a chair in front of Reno’s helicopter, Cloud bemusedly accepted the bottle of water thrust at him.

Yeah, mako _did_ always make him thirsty.

Chugging the bottle down in quick gulps, he handed it back to Reno, who was watching him with blatant admiration on his face.

“You have any idea of how badass that looked?”

Tilting his head, Cloud quirked a brow in question.

“The whole fuckin’ pool just lit up and there was like, this _sound_ that I’m pretty sure the eggheads didn’t hear, but you were all haloed and shit. Like something from a movie, I swear.”

Well, that was new.

“Huh.”

“Guess you’ve never seen yourself do that shit, huh?”

“Mm.”

“Makes sense. Still, it was fuckin’ hot, Blondie.”

Rolling his eyes but smiling, he let Reno grab the freshly cleaned hand, the ignored pins and needles sensation flaring at his careful study of the skin. It didn’t look any different to the rest of Cloud’s slightly tanned flesh, though there was a bit of oil still staining his cuticles from working on engines with Cid. Fenrir would run on a mana converter if it ran out of traditional fuel, but he tried not to let himself run on fumes in any meaning of the word.

Nimble fingertips ran over the back of his knuckles and Cloud put his teeth into his lip to keep from shuddering at the pain-pleasure of the sensation.

“Fuckin’ crazy,” the redhead said, lifting Cloud’s hand to slot their fingers together again. “But crazy can be sexy.”

Swallowing around the sudden lump in his throat the swordsman looked away, ignoring the grin on Reno’s face and the cute crinkles at the corners of his eyes. The way that the angles of his own mouth wanted to tug up and the Turk was a line of heat at his side.

His other side felt oddly cold in comparison and he tried not to imagine Barret’s heavy form pressed against him too because he needed to be coherent.

As if summoned, his phone rang, and the Caller ID said Big Babe.

Cheeks flushing hotly at the ecstatic look on Reno’s face while he answered, not letting go of that slim hand but turning his face away as he answered.

“Strife.”

“Hey, Cloudy, I’ve got a question for you,” Cloud could hear something hissing and bubbling in the background, a crackling sound like dry mudflats.

“Yeah?”

“How often would you say mako pools spontaneously appear?”

Turning quickly to look at Reno, he saw the exasperation take over the excitement and that other thin fingered hand palmed the Turk’s face. Despite his own longsuffering of the way that situations tended to balloon out of control, Cloud couldn’t help but be amused by how _done_ the redhead seemed with the situation.

Well, he had been taking care of this for a few weeks. It was tired news to him.

“Well,” dragging out the word just to enjoy the narrowing of blue-jade eyes, the swordsman tightened his grip on that hand for a moment. The way that sharp features softened made something in his chest warm and bubbly and he tried not to think about it. Friends who held hands were a thing. “If you’d asked a minute ago, I’d say five times. But since you have asked, I’m gonna say six.”

“Ah shit. You get ahold of Baby Girl?”

“Aerith’s looking into it,” he confirmed, taking Reno’s weight as he dropped his forehead to his shoulder and groaned in suffering. “Want me to stop by?”

“I mean, if you’re offering…”

“Alright,” his gaze flickered down, and his voice clipped sharply for attention. “Reno.”

Jolting at the sudden tonal change in Cloud’s voice the redhead sat up straight to stare at him, gaze firmly fixed on him in a way that shouldn’t make him feel so hungry.

“Can your chopper carry Fenrir?”

“Wait, Red’s there?” Barret sounded delighted at the news, as opposed to the wry ‘What is this new bullshit’ tone he’d had before. “He’s coming too?”

“Yeah,” the corner of Reno’s lips twitched, and Cloud was treated to a fleetingly soft expression before the habitual sly grin took its place. “I’ll give you a lift to Chocolate Mountain.”

“We’ll see you later, Barret,” the blonde said dryly. “Try not to fall into the pool in the meantime.”

“Man, that’s asking a lot.”

Huffing out a laugh, he said his goodbyes and let Reno practically crawl on top of him to speak into the microphone to say _his_ goodbyes before hanging up.

“Hey, where’s Rude anyway?”

“Oh, partner’s got a bit of a mako rejection,” Reno told him as he went through his preflight checks after getting off the phone with Tseng. Reeve was sending people to meet them at Barret’s place to set up more containment and monitoring equipment. “The standard injections hit him pretty hard, so we try to keep him from iffy jobs like this. Just means he gets to spend more time letting Tifa step on him.”

Cloud grimaced at the imagery and scowled at the playful grin shot towards him as he buckled himself in. Riding in helicopters could be pretty hellish for his enhanced hearing, so he was bracing himself for an uncomfortable trip. Cid’s airships were generally his flight method of choice, but Reno was already there and, well.

Maybe he hadn’t wanted to leave again so soon after just seeing him again.

They were friends, right? Most of his friends stopped by pretty regularly but he hadn’t seen Reno in nearly two months. He was pretty sure that this counted towards missing someone he was friends with rather than anything… _else_ , right?

Rain hit the windshield and Cloud wryly accepted that for the message from fate that it probably was; nothing was ever as simple as he’d like it to be.

“Here,” Reno handed him a set of different earmuffs to cover his ears with, tucking the lockbox that they had come from back into the hold under the dash. “Soldier edition.”

Bewildered, he took them and looked at Reno.

“You just… have these?”

Sure, the Turks used to ferry around the Soldiers for missions, but that was years ago at this point and why would they have kept equipment that was meant for a dead breed?

Clearing his throat, uncharacteristically awkward, Reno flipped start up switches, a hint of color to his cheeks under his tattoos as he did so.

Oh.

Suddenly feeling embarrassed and awkward himself, Cloud settled them on his ears and immediately closed his eyes with a sense of relief. Oh, that was _nice_. He always forgot just how much extraneous noise there was in the world until he could experience total silence like hadn’t in so long.

When he opened them, the redhead seemed at ease again, mouth softer and no longer embarrassed by the blatant insinuation his hoarding of Soldier gear was. Yeah, he’d known for a while that Reno was attracted to him, but he hadn’t really thought… well.

Biting his lip against a smile as his heart leapt in his chest, Cloud simply sat back to allow himself the rare pleasure of enjoying the ride.

At some point he fell asleep and then woke up to Reno unclipping his seatbelt, leaned over him with his long red ponytail falling over his shoulder. Generally he woke up pretty quickly, awareness of his surroundings coming when hit wakefulness. As it was, he lifted a hand to wrap Reno’s hair around his hand and tugged him down to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

The redhead’s breath hitched, and he settled a forearm against the back of the seat behind Cloud even as he twitched his head to the side. Their lips slid together just as easily as they had the last time and tugging on his hips with his free hand pulled the Turk into his lap. With an ease that spoke of the mutagens in his body, Cloud wasn’t stiff after staying in one position for so long.

Could get a tension headache, but not a cramp without drugs or Lifestream fucking him up. His physiology was so messed up.

Sliding the hand from his hip up the back of his shirt to settle on his lower back, Cloud enjoyed the slow kisses and the weight in his lap.

“Mm, wow,” Reno mumbled against his mouth, hands on Cloud’s shoulders. “Waking you up is something of a treat huh.”

Looking up at him through his lashes, he felt an oddly freeing smirk alight on his features for a moment before he stood up. The Turk swore and automatically wrapped his lean limbs around Cloud’s thicker frame as he stepped out of the chopper. He kept one hand pressed to Reno’s lower back and reluctantly let go of his long hair to slide the other not at all reluctantly under his ass.

He caught sight of Barret coming up the hill and enjoyed the way that his friend paused momentarily before speeding up. Just in case, Cloud twisted to put them on the other side of the chopper to keep prying eyes from down below from bothering them.

It was interesting, the various little sounds that Reno made when pressed against his own helicopter and held in place by a slight application of superhuman strength. He pressed his teeth into the soft column of the Turk’s throat and enjoyed the way that he gasped and shuddered, a low, breathy sound falling from his lips. Desperate pale hands tangled between his sword harness and shirt, pressure a sweet point of contact.

Careful not to bite too hard, Cloud worried at the other man’s flesh, feeling it heat with slight bruising.

“C’mon, c’mon,” Reno mumbled, his voice vibrating into Cloud’s teeth as he clenched his hands to feel the Turk’s ass flex against his grip. “Oh fuck, Cloud.”

Pulling his teeth out of slightly indented flesh, he slid his tongue over the barely visible bruising before exhaling on it. The swearing was music to his ears as he leaned back to look heavy lidded over at Barret who had joined them while Reno was clutching at Cloud’s back with clawed hands.

The gunner was wearing one of his usual baggy shirts and cargo pants, his sunglasses removed and put in one of those pockets.

His dark throat bobbed as he swallowed, pupils dilated.

“Want some?” Cloud asked roughly, moving a hand from Reno’s ass to his chest to keep him pressed against the chopper.

The Turk laughed breathily, heat in his face and a grin on his swollen lips as he rolled his head towards Barret.

“Yeah, come take a bite, Big Man.”

Barret stepped forward and stood at their side, one arm sliding around Cloud as he leaned forward to kiss Reno. Reno lifted his hands to curl thin fingers in the black man’s thick beard, tongues peeking out as they slid together. When they pulled apart, Barret’s lower lip was caught between the Turk’s teeth before he released it.

The low sound that his large friend made had Cloud grinding against Reno to relieve pressure in his cock. The pale man shivered with a moan and arched his back against the swordsman’s guiding hand keeping him in place.

His large flesh hand caught Reno’s head in an echo of Cloud’s hold and kept it tilted back so that he could press his mouth to the other side of that pale throat. Pressing back against the swordsman, the Turk make a soft noise of appreciation, one hand scrambling for something to hold. Grabbing it and entwining their fingers once again, he pressed his hand back over his head against the chopper.

Barret’s hand traveled down from holding Reno in place to unbutton his suit pants and slid inside to palm his erection. The backs of his large knuckles bumped against Cloud and he grunted at both the sight and feeling while the gunner pulled away from that pale throat. A tint of beard burn and a darker bruise than the blonde had left – wary of causing too much damage – were stark in contrast on the other side of Reno’s neck.

“Let’s adjust,” he breathed and then moved.

A few quick movements had Reno pressed between Cloud and Barret with Cloud holding him up for the gunner to admire. Braced against the swordsman’s chest with his head heavy on his shoulder, Reno was held by open thighs for the gunner to step between.

Always one to go for what he wanted when it was offered, the black man stepped forward to grip the Turk’s cock once again. He leaned down to kiss Cloud at the same time, bracing his gun hand against the blonde’s sturdy shoulder to make up the height different between them.

Moaning slightly as he was jerked and pressed between the two of them, Reno grasped at Barret’s shoulders and turned his head just enough to mouth at Clouds’ jaw.

_Fuck, this is good._

Grinding against the redhead’s ass for a moment, Cloud lifted the Turk up higher so that that questing cunning hands could unbuckle and unbutton Barret’s pants. Pale hands, long and slim, looked too good against straining dark flesh and that Cloud _really_ wanted to see pale lips wrapped around. Shuddering at the thought, he watched, enraptured as pale and dark twined together around hard cocks.

Reno hooked teeth deeper into Cloud’s jaw and shuddered as Barret leaned his forehead against the swordsman’s and they shared breath. It was fascinating to watch his own mako glow against dark skin, to see it reflected back in honey brown eyes.

“Fuck,” Barret breathed, and then he kissed him.

He groaned into his mouth before pulling back momentarily before he slumped further against Cloud and the sight of the release between the two of them made _his_ cock pulse readily. God, he was close but not close enough.

Despite the rushing of his own blood in his ears, he waited for Barret to gather himself and stand fully under his own power before shifting Reno. It seemed to be the thing, just manhandling the Turk around where he wanted him and getting a look of excitement in turn.

“Lemme,” the Turk slurred, still slick with release hand reaching down to take Cloud in hand after the swordsman wrestled his pants open, trying not to rip the fabric carelessly. “Lemme do you.”

With that, he slid down Cloud’s side to his knees as the blonde leaned back against the support of the helicopter.

_Shit._

Still all soft limbed and warm faced Reno grasped his cock with that damp hand before licking at the head. Baring his teeth, Cloud stared down at the sight before him, breathes coming faster as Barret slid a hand into red hair and directed the Turk’s angle for him.

“Fuck,” slid from his clenched jaw, and to keep from grabbing at Reno’s hair himself, Cloud laced his fingers behind his own head. “ _Fuck_.”

Reno’s mouth was hot and soft, and he had all sorts of tricks that spoke of experience that Cloud was reaping the rewards of. The hand he wasn’t using to guide the cock in his mouth was sliding around the blonde’s frame, groping his ass, up his side under his shirt. It took his considerable control not to let his hips move, to let Barret, through Reno, decide the pacing.

When he slid into the redhead’s throat and Reno moaned around him, Cloud felt one of his own fingers crack. The strength of his grip didn’t waver at the slight, familiar pain, but it gave him something to think on for the few moments before it healed.

Looking down again was what did him in, though, looking into slightly glowing eyes, following a dark hand up to intent dark eyes.

_Fuck._

He came and it was fucking _marvelous_.

Panting, he let his hands fall back down to his sides, reaching instinctively to run appreciative fingertips over Reno’s face. He’d spit off to the side – yeah, considering his genome was a genetic nightmare piñata, that was fair – and Barret had shifted to lean against the helicopter next to Cloud, breathing heavily.

Reno buttoned Cloud’s pants up and then gave the kind of sated smile that really didn’t help him keeping his stamina from supporting his libido. Sending a bewildered yet almost awed glance to Barret, he got a similar one in return that had him snorting out a laugh.

Ridiculous.

This whole thing was ridiculous.

Fucking herding cats, and Reno was like the cat who’d got the canary.

Rolling his eyes, he reached down and yanked the Turk up by the collar of his jacket and let him sprawl lazily against his front.

He pet over that red hair and let his head thump down against the helicopter and stared at the sky, bemused.

Really.

They were supposed to be investigating a mysterious potentially world ending amount of mako pools appearing and here they were. Fucking out in the open.

Well, he supposed there were worse things he could be doing, and with worse people.

At least he wasn’t fighting a Limit Break this time.

~*~

“So, our Baby Girl is looking into this whole mess, yeah?”

“Yeah,” taking a sip of the tea that Cid had stashed in everyone’s place, Cloud leaned back on Barret’s couch. “Aerith will take care of it.”

The WRO guys were swarming around the site and a desperate Reeve had asked him to _please_ wait to touch the mako and commune with the Planet until they were done setting up. Out of respect for the man’s blood pressure, Cloud had acquiesced, but he thought it was kind of funny in a way. The man hadn’t even been there, but apparently news traveled quick and Reno had been cackling on the phone during a similar call from Tseng.

When the gunner sat down next to him the cushions sank towards him, and Cloud let himself lean to the side, head propping up on his shoulder. Two pairs of booted feet lifted to prop themselves up on the black man’s coffee table and Cloud quirked a smile at the action. Tifa lamented their manners sometimes, but she had been caught out with her boots on tables a time or two as well.

It was a familiar thought, and he let himself relax as Barret shifted his arm so that it was around the blonde’s shoulders.

Ah, yeah.

He thinks he likes this part the best.

“Look at you sweet snacks,” crooned the Turk as he walked into the room from where he’d been directing the WRO agents. “All plated out and dishy.”

Sometimes Cloud wondered if Reno even knew what he sounded like. Then he would remember that he probably didn’t care either way and did whatever the hell he wanted unless Tseng or Rufus said no.

Rude might _seem_ more serious, but he did crazy shit right along with Reno.

“How’d it go, Red?” Barret asked, lifting his other arm invitingly. “Nobody fall in, right?”

The tired redhead perked up at the offer and threw himself forward to put his head in Barret’s lap and had his legs hanging over the arm of the couch. Laughing, the Turk grabbed a large black hand and pulled it to rest on his stomach and Cloud hesitated only a moment before getting a hand in that soft red hair.

He was pretty sure he had a thing for it if he were being completely honest.

It was something he’d never seen in person before coming to Midgar, red hair. Genesis had had it, of course, but it was darker, less shaded and sun touched.

Plus, he’d never wanted that dramatic narcissistic asshole to fuck him, so.

Probably part of it.

Reno rolled his head back into Cloud’s hand and gave him a tired half grin before sighing and letting his eyes fall shut. Even a bit enhanced the way that all Turks were, it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t get overworked just the same as anyone else.

If Cloud forgot about time passing, if he got distracted enough to forget he was _supposed_ to be tired, he wouldn’t. In his day to day life of deliveries and random creature attacks, there wasn’t really anything out in the world that required much effort anymore. Part of the reason why he was always getting scolded by Tifa and the kids, because he forgot how much time had passed without needing to sleep.

Sometimes things were just one long blur of existing, and he was pretty sure people weren’t supposed to live like that.

“Nobody fell in,” Reno almost sounded disappointed. “And Big Boss is following Daddy Reeve around until they have more info.”

_Hrk._

“ _What_ did you just call Reeve?”

If he were able to get a headache from more than a concussion and his own muscle tension, he’d probably have one, even as Barret barked a laugh.

“Oh, yeah, Rufus totally wants to bang the Director,” the Turk seemed nonchalant as Cloud felt his world tilt painfully. “Or, y’know, get banged by him. I think it’s the tinkering hands and cultured voice in a tailored suit. It does things to ‘im.”

“Oh gross,” the blonde muttered, grimacing at the imagery.

“Reeve could do with getting over his huge fuckin’ crush on Vinnie,” Barret piped in, petting over Reno’s taught stomach idly. “Since there ain’t a chance in _hell_ of him getting mixed in with Shera and Cid.”

“Cid would murder him for touching his tools,” Cloud agreed with a sigh, letting his head fall back as he, too, pet the Turk. His hair really was rather silky, whereas Cloud’s own was thick and could be wiry; it’s how it held its shape. “And Shera would use his body as mulch for her garden.”

“Vinnie probably wouldn’t kill him, but he’s not much for the kinda romance that Reeve’s all about. Big grand gestures and shit. Prefers his tea and his books and bein’ able to travel freely without gettin’ nagged too much.”

Apparently volume didn’t matter, as long as it was only once in a while.

“Reeve’s a worrier,” Reno agreed groggily, one slim hand patting out blindly to grip loosely at Cloud’s shin. “Like’s things to make sense and do what’s they’s suppose’ta.”

Ah, his accent was slipping into more gutter.

 _Street rat_ , he thought fondly as he enjoyed the rumble of Barret’s voice beside him, his skin buzzing pleasantly. _It is somehow not at all surprising that both of them are huge gossips._

“Tseng’d probably suit ‘em,” the Turk continued, words slurring slightly, and when Cloud glanced down his eyes he traced those sleepless bruises once again. “He likes listenin’ to arguin’n shit. Thinks debate builds character and drinks tea like it’s goin’outta style.”

Conversation drifted off after a while – why did they have to contemplate their friends’ love lives? – before Cloud thought to ask something that had been bugging him for _weeks_.

“Why gold paint?” rolling his head to look up at Barret while his hand still pets through that hair, Cloud furrowed his brows. “Why?”

With a sleepy laugh, Reno rolled over and pillowed his head on his arms while wriggling a little more to be partially on Cloud’s lap as well. Barret’s large hand ended up half sitting on the Turk’s ass and the gunner resumed his idle petting after a moment of hesitation, sliding over the swell of it and up to his lower back again. Reno merely wriggled more into the touch encouragingly, like a cat arching into being pet before settling in for sleep.

The smile Reno sent up at the swordsman was sweet and tired, but there was warm mischief in his eyes.

“Was pretty fuckin’ hot, right?”

“Mm,” he agreed easily.

Might as well admit it, they’d already fooled around twice in very public places. Acknowledging it at this point was logical, especially since he was enjoying the cushion of the black man’s thickly muscled arm. Barret didn’t run as hot as someone with mako in their veins did, but he still ran warmer than the average person.

It was nice.

“Bribed some people to take him in as part of the entertainment, y’know?” the Turk said, leaning into the hand still in his hair as Barret coughed and muttered nonsense under his breath. “They jazzed him up enough that he wasn’t recognizable to the average shmuck and he got plenty of people askin’im for some _private dancin’_. Probably earned more from _that_ than th’bribe, honestly.”

The waggling brows were silly, but the expression didn’t last long under his exhaustion and Reno sighed, turning his eyes into his forearms. The redhead rolled the bridge of his nose and the sockets of his eyes against the fabric of his suit jacket, and Cloud imagined he probably had a headache from his exhaustion.

Mako might make the body’s tolerances stretch, but it was no replacement for proper sleep.

Blue eyes flicked up to meet brown through tinted lenses and Cloud felt the corner of his lips tick up with calm amusement.

“Private dancing, huh?”

Enhanced vision caught the way that already dark cheeks flushed with blood under his beard, and Cloud shifted enough to press his lips against the ball of his friend’s shoulder. He liked this, the ease, the comfort of curling up with his friends – he guessed Reno could count, now – on the couch, no expectations. Barret’s arm wrapped around his thinner but stronger shoulders, holding him in place.

Yeah, this was pretty good.

A nap wasn’t out of the question either, even if he’d had one only a few hours ago, and even if he couldn’t sleep down time was always nice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud learns that he likes to play with his food. Also, that he may have to consider never letting Reno speak again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, I have no idea what's happening anymore, this was supposed to be a 6k oneshot.

~*~

He must have dozed off at some point anyway, because when he next opened his eyes Reno was gone again and Barret was still at his side.

The black man had his head tilted back against the couch and his arm still lay across Cloud’s shoulders, chest rising and falling with slow, deep breaths. Stretching his hearing for a moment, he found Reno outside speaking to a WRO agent about the setup and not upsetting the locals by refusing to say why they were there.

Apparently a couple of Barret’s employees had dropped by to see what was up and hadn’t gotten answers that they liked. Probably what had Reno up and about, if Cloud was being honest.

Weird that he didn’t wake up as well, but this was one of his few safe spaces, the others being the bar and Cid’s place. It might have been enough that he was with people that he trusted enough to deal with minor issues like that. If it had come to blows he’d probably have woken up, but despite his circumstances, Cloud wasn’t nearly as paranoid as a trained Turk was.

Sighing softly, he looked down at the cold cup of tea on the coffee table they both still had their boots propped up on.

Maybe a new cup was in order.

Sliding carefully out from under his friend’s arm, Cloud grabbed the cup and walked silently into the kitchen to make himself a new one. And maybe dig out something to eat because he couldn’t remember the last time he’d grabbed something since he’d left the bar.

Nasty habit, that.

Setting the kettle on to heat, he rifled easily through Barret’s kitchen and found some bread and sandwich makings. Hmm, looked like he’d had a produce drop recently, if he had lettuce and tomatoes available.

He hesitated for a moment on using the rightfully difficult to come by vegetables before sighing and deciding he’d make something for all of them.

Barret wouldn’t mind either way, he knew that. It was just… people, normal people, needed the nutrients in fresh foods more than he did. The ground was still recovering enough for proper farming in a lot of places, and so it made what _did_ grow in certain areas pretty priceless.

Behind him, he concentrated on the gunner’s slow, steady breathing and solid, strong heartbeat. The way that the metal of his arm ticked with calibration in the quiet of the little house just big enough for a man of Barret’s size.

Pulling the kettle off the stove just when it began to whistle below most human hearing, Cloud set the tea to steep and wrapped the two extra turkey sandwiches. Best not to let them sit out and get stale when he didn’t have to.

Eating mechanically, he wondered just what the solution to this problem was going to be. It didn’t look like it was going to be a fighting issue, but that was true for a lot of things.

Unless he had to do minor mechanical maintenance, he pretty much was just the guy who cuts things, and someone else came up with a solution. While normally it was a Reeve thing to come up with plans for the less violent things, this was leaning more onto the mystical side and Cloud trusted Aerith to find a solution.

Maybe he didn’t trust her not to meddle in his personal life, but he trusted her with this.

Sandwich eaten – barely tasted, but what he did taste, was pretty good – he stepped back into the living room with hot cup of tea in hand.

Barret was just where he’d left him, and Cloud felt the corners of his lips curl up at the sight of him. As one of the oldest members of their party, the gunner had complained more than a few times about aching joints and uncomfortable sleeping places. Somehow, though, he was always one of the ones who fell asleep in probably the _worst_ ways for unenhanced people to fall asleep.

Setting his cup to the side, he slid forward to carefully lift one leg off the table so that it bent to the floor, before the other. While his knees didn’t ache anymore and healed hyperextension as quickly as he got it, he didn’t want Barret to wake up with _that_ particular problem.

With that done, he stayed crouched, considering his own hands and the ease with which he’d moved legs that individually probably weighed as much as Reno.

“Hmm.”

Reno had implied that Barret liked how strong Cloud was, how easily he could lift and move things a person of his size would never be able to. Rubbing his fingers together, he considered, a glance over at the larger man’s sleeping form prompting him to run his tongue over his teeth.

“Barret,” pitching his voice low but sharply enough that the man woke, was second nature. He’d often done so on their journey when they hadn’t been awoken by Shinra men or monsters. “Wake up.”

Part of him regretted waking him, but the bigger part shivered at the way the man jerked in place and his whole body tensed. He enjoyed the way that dark skin rippled with muscle movement, the way that his barrel chest expanded sharply on a quiet breath, hands lifting in an aborted movement.

Making a rough, throaty noise as he woke fully, Barret pulled off his sunglasses and rubbed at his eyes before looking down at Cloud.

Brown eyes widened and the man swallowed thickly at the sight of the blonde still knelt at his feet and Cloud felt a thrill of satisfaction that he could cause that.

Seeing that he had the man’s attention, the swordsman lifted his hands and set them calmly just above the black man’s knees, grasping thick muscle. Tilting his head to the side, he slowly slid them farther up those meaty thighs and watched Barret’s breath stutter in his lungs and his pupils dilate, blood rushing under his skin.

At his sides, metal and flesh hands clenched and unclenched and Cloud caught a glimpse of pink as his friend wetted his lips.

“You can touch me,” he stated even as he slid his hands around to hook just under Barret’s ass. “You can’t do anything I don’t want you to, anyway.”

If anything, this made dark skin flush darker and breaths become more labored as Barret lifted his flesh hand to run it through Cloud’s hair. It trembled slightly, and suddenly Cloud wasn’t quite so sure this was the right course.

His brows twitched down, corner of his mouth dipping uncertainly, before Barret spoke.

“You ain’t got any idea how much I thought about this,” was said lowly, more subdued than Cloud could remember hearing him outside of mourning. “Thinking it wasn’t ever gonna happen. Don’t bow out on me now, Cloud.”

Blinking at the admission, he studied the man in front of him for a long moment before firming his grip and pulling the man forward with ease. Gasping, Barret propped himself up on his metal hand and bit his bottom lip, the hand in Cloud’s hair tightening for a moment, sending tingles down his spine.

One hand continued to support Barret’s weight while the other slid his shirt up to show off the trail of dark hair on a firm, but soft stomach. There was layer of insulating fat that made touching scarred skin supple and pleasant, and Cloud gave into the urge to lean forward and press his lips to it. The sound that Barret made was soft and nearly swallowed, but it was quickly released as Cloud rolled luminous blue eyes up to look at him.

The skin tasted slightly salty but mostly warm, twitching as Cloud breathed on it before biting just hard enough he felt the skin roll between his teeth.

“Fuck,” was gasped from above. “ _Fuck_.”

Pressing the shirt further up so that it bunched under armpits and over large pectorals that were just lightly dusted with dark hair, Cloud appreciated the sight before him. While not the ‘ideal’ physique that the Soldier program had wanted, Barret was far from unfit. He might be thicker and not quite as clearly defined but he was healthy and warm and soft in places that Cloud was finding he preferred.

Might just be that he liked Barret’s shape because he liked _Barret._

As he watched, nipples peaked hard and he could see the muscle jumping over his left pec with each heavy beat of his heart.

Humming in interest, he pressed a kiss there, enjoying the reverberating _thud-thud_ for what it was before trailing down to a nipple. Tugging gently with his teeth made that pulse jump faster, made delicious tension flicker through firm muscle. Squeezing that supporting hand against the edge of Barret’s ass, the other slid up his back to slide short nails down dark skin just to feel the heat rise and soft moan fall from bitten lips.

With another look up at Barret, he took a bite around that nipple he’d toyed with, hard enough to leave indents that might bruise.

It looked pretty, on dark skin, and Cloud couldn’t help but lick his lips as he considered the wide canvas laid before him. There was no doubt in his mind that Barret healed slower than Reno did, unenhanced by mako as he was, but that seemed to have its own appeal.

A mark that would take time to fade, that would slide slowly through the stages of healing.

He wondered if he could mark time by it.

Meandering slowly over Barret’s dark skin, leaving teeth marks and hickies, Cloud was definitely enjoying himself. Each clench of thick fingers in his hair made finding those sensitive spots just that much easier, kept him playing with them for longer.

After a while, he couldn’t ignore the twitching and aborted thrusts of a heavy erection against his stomach and he slid back down onto his knees. His free hand unbuckled and opened Barret’s pants with ease and he slid his hand in to pull that flushed, full cock out. While Cloud wasn’t as pale as Reno was, spent more time on the road and out in the sun, he still looked shockingly white against the dark flush of Barret’s erection.

The sound that the gunner made when he gave an experimental stroke had more shivers running along his skin.

“What do you want, Barret?” he asked, voice surprisingly calm and even, eyes burning with mako light. “Do you want me to suck you off?”

Panting above him, a light sheen of sweat on his face, Barret stared down at him with something like awe and indecision.

A soft clatter behind them.

Reno.

“Oh, please fucking do,” the redhead’s voice was hoarse with sudden surprise and arousal. “ _Please_.”

Cloud waited, patient.

“Gods, Cloud, yeah,” Barret’s head fell back, as if he couldn’t take looking at him anymore, pulse jumping in his cock. “ _Yeah_.”

“Reno,” he ordered absentmindedly. “Come here and keep Barret company.”

He could almost feel their heartbeats against his skin, a heady sensation with their attention solely focused on him. On doing as one was told and expectation of what to come.

Reno settled quickly, smoothly onto the couch next to Barret, who was mostly in place because Cloud was holding him there. The Turk leaned to look over Cloud’s handiwork, slim fingered hand hovering over the skin without actually touching, which made Barret moan again.

“Oh, look at you,” was murmured softly and Reno tilted his head down towards Barret’s heated features without touching. “He’s done a number on you hasn’t he, sweetheart?”

“Reno,” rasped desperately out of Barret’s swollen lips.

Looking at the careful angling of the redhead’s body Cloud felt a swell of satisfaction he had never experienced before. Well, apparently he had some kinks to work out as well.

“Reno, touch him.”

Instantly, those dexterous fingers were playing over bruises and bitemarks, pressing softly and playing Barret like a particularly lovely instrument. He watched for a long moment, taking in the sight, the way that the black man seemed to melt even more at the petting of mischievous fingers.

“Kiss him,” fell low and quiet, an order from the bottom of his throat.

The second that pale lips pressed against his, Barret gave a quiet whimper and arched up into the kiss that Cloud had been denying him without thought. For a long moment, he simply watched a long-fingered hand stroking over dark skin and cupping a cheek as a deep, slow kiss was shared.

Then he turned to the prize at hand and pressed his lips to the throbbing vein on the side, the abortive thrust and desperate moan both satisfying.

Skin and salt and musk swelled tantalizingly as Cloud took him in his mouth and swallowed him down, listening to the litany of sweet sounds falling from Barret’s mouth and into Reno’s.

Through all of it, Reno never stopped mumbling his delightful, gentle diatribe.

“Oh that’s it sweetheart look at you, we’ve got you. So pretty aren’t you, all bruised up and _wanting_. Let Cloud make you feel so good, yes, _just_ like that. Look at that, look at you, doing so well.”

It felt like _that,_ those words, more than the heavy, thick almost too big cock down his throat, was making him throb in his pants with need. With Reno whispering tantalizing words into his ear, and perhaps the excessive amount of teasing that Cloud had given him, Barret didn’t last long.

When he hit his release, it was with a rough exclamation and both his hands reaching up to grab at Reno desperately.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. We’re right here,” was murmured against dark skin as Cloud pulled back and wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. “You’re doing so _good_ , Barret. So good.”

Carefully lowering Barret back onto the couch, Cloud rocked back to take in the dazed look on the man’s face. He looked softer than usual, completely relaxed, and absolute putty in Reno’s hands when he stroked gentle fingers over that dark face. Sweet, gentle kisses peppered over scars and relaxed, bruised lips to delicately press against cheekbones and brow.

Ignoring the throbbing in his pants for a moment, he simply watched Reno gently soothe away the desperation that had marked him before.

It was… pretty.

The lax look of satisfaction and trust that Barret was wearing as Reno breathed praise into his skin like Cure into a wound. The gentle adoration that spun the sharp angles of the Turk’s face into something comforting and gentle rather than wry and sexy.

Cloud liked that.

Moving to stand, content now that he’d been able to get Barret off and watch the two of them sweep into each other like coffee and cream, he ignored the dull throb in his pants. He stopped when Barret made a low noise of protest, looking up at him with raised brows, before glancing at Reno when nothing was forthcoming.

The Turk was quick on the uptake.

“You want something else from Cloud, sweetheart?” breathing directly into Barret’s ear, Reno locked eyes with the swordsman. “All you gotta do is ask and we’ll give you what you need.”

For a long moment Barret simply breathed deeply, brown eyes hazy and fucked out as he stared up at Cloud.

“Fuck me,” came hoarsely from bitten lips and Cloud felt heat surge throughout his body. “Cloud, please.”

Running his tongue over his teeth again, he glanced at Reno who tipped his head just enough to give the go ahead. There was something about this situation that Cloud wasn’t quite getting, but Reno seemed to understand exactly what was happening. He’d never had someone simply… melt after sex like this before, and he’d be worried or perhaps uncomfortable if not for the ease the Turk was treating this with.

Still.

Best to get confirmation before he stuck his dick in anyone.

“I can do that, but we should move to the bedroom,” somehow, his voice was only a little hoarse from the recent giant cock down his throat and his own arousal. “Reno. I’ll need supplies.”

The man was moving even as he shushed the punched-out sound that Barret gave at the sudden distance between them. Green-blue eyes slid over to meet Cloud’s with a tilt of his head, and he twitched the corner of a brow in understanding as he slid up next to Barret and slid an arm behind him. Keep touching him right now, while Reno was off getting what they needed. It wasn’t exactly a hardship to do, even if he didn’t fully understand the reasoning behind it.

Liking, no, _wanting_ to touch them was part of the reason this whole thing had started.

“I’ve got you Barret,” fell lowly from his lips, an echo of what Reno had been saying, and he felt the minute shiver run through the man. “Don’t worry. Reno will be back.”

With that, he slid his other arm under those thick legs and lifted the large black man with ease so that he could move them to the bedroom. He enjoyed the soft breath of shock that Barret released and the arm that slipped around his shoulders to hold onto him.

The only awkwardness was that Barret had a good foot of height on him, but Cloud was limber and had enough spatial awareness to twist through the hall without slamming into anything.

While the gunner wasn’t usually much for creature comforts, he did like to be able to stretch out, so the bed was of a good size. A welcome thought, really, since there were going to be three people in various tangles on it within the next few minutes.

Setting Barret down, Cloud ended up partially leaned over him and looked directly into those hazy features fondly. Whatever this was, this reaction to how Cloud had been working him up and took him back down, it seemed to be a pleasant thing. There were a lot of things that he didn’t know about, and he was simply relieved that he hadn’t done something wrong by Reno’s more sexually knowing standpoint.

Weird, when _Reno_ was the expert on something, but here they were.

The softness at the corners of brown eyes and plush lips was endearing, and Cloud pressed a kiss to the side of his scarred eye, humming in appreciation for that softness.

“Alright,” Cloud murmured as he slid a hand down that bruised and marked torso. “Let’s get you undressed.”

Barret stretched sweetly at the direction, arms over his head and a sleepy grin twisting his lips while Cloud pulled off his boots, socks, and pants. Underwear slid off next and Cloud couldn’t help but press a kiss to the man’s hip as he continued, enjoying the jump in pulse. Even soft he was big, twitching but not doing much else at the careless affection.

Getting his shirt off was fun because when he ducked down to kiss Barret on the mouth the man was significantly more interested in doing that than finishing getting undressed.

The door clicked shut behind Reno and then a tube of lube and a few condoms were tossed on the bed beside them. The rustle of cloth told him that the redhead was getting more comfortable before he joined them on the bed.

Laughing softly, Reno let Cloud reach up to pull him down to take his place in making out with this malleable Barret. Together they wrangled off his shirt and then peppered him with more kisses, because that seemed to be the thing to do with side of Barret.

Leaving Reno to whisper more soft words to their third, Cloud slid back down between the man’s thick legs and lifted one to sit easily on his shoulder.

Slicking his fingers, he glanced up again to look at Reno, who caught his gaze and breathed against Barret’s ear, never looking away from Cloud.

“You want it, sweetheart? You want Cloud to open you up with those Soldier strong fingers and then _fuck_ you with that mako strength?”

Cloud shivered in tandem with Barret at the words, at the tone, cock jumping in the confines of his pants. Watching the black man turn towards the redhead still dressed in his now fully open and mussed white shirt and black pants, he _wanted_. The two of them were mostly dressed while Barret was bare, but that seemed to make this that much more exciting.

Moaning, Barret swallowed thickly.

“Yeah,” his voice was quieter than he was used. Quieter and softer. “Yeah I want that.”

Well then.

Reno’s voice running through his head, he got to work on opening his friend up so he could give him what he wanted.

The heat in his own skin, running through his veins and throbbing his heartbeat in his cock was secondary to making sure that Barret was taken care of now. Even lax and sated as the man had been, he still twitched and clenched, pleasure rippling up his solid form and shaping shadows on his abdomen. Cloud took his time, enjoying the way that the leg over his shoulder tried to pull him in but couldn’t, and how that made more shivers run over pebbling bruised skin.

“Look at how focused he is on _you_ ,” that sweet voice slid over them, a running commentary. “So careful with you because he could break you so _easy_ , sweetheart. You like that don’t you?” a thin surprisingly strong hand slid over Barret’s sweat slick brow. “That he’s so _gentle_ with you? Treats you like glass?”

“Mm,” groaned low out of that barrel chest. “Yeah, I – yeah.”

Pressing an absent little bite to the thick thigh by his face, he kissed the slight sting even as he reached for a condom. Unbuckling his pants enough to pull his dick out, he stared at Reno and Barret where they watched him, one face tender and fond, and the other a mixture of dazed and desperate.

“We know Cloud’s one big treat all _wrapped_ _up_ in a pretty package, don’t we, Barret?” the redhead didn’t pause even as his tongue dipped out to wet his lips. “We know he’s certainly going to satisfy all those places that _need_ it, don’t we?”

Breath juddering in his lungs, Barret met Cloud’s eyes for a moment, still syrupy slow and cottony, before he swallowed. He seemed to rise above his fugue for a moment as he gave the affirmation that the swordsman had been waiting for.

“Yeah, Cloud always… always comes through.”

Things blurred a little after that, with putting the condom on and sliding into tight heat. Sliding his hands over faded scars and textured stretch marks on dark skin and listening to every hitch of heart and lungs, feeling every shiver and shudder. Of the sweet slowly faltering voice of Reno narrating and keeping the mood slow and soft and something that Cloud hadn’t been expecting until even he couldn’t hold it up. Until they worked Barret back to full hardness, his body fluttering beautifully, eyes wide and neck strained as he arched his back.

Metal hand twisted in his sheets the other was clutched in one of Reno’s as the Turk kept his lips occupied now that words failed him.

It was dark skin on display and surprisingly emotional considering the circumstances and Cloud didn’t know how he would feel about it later. However he felt, he didn’t think it would be bad.

Once Reno got a hand on that renewed erection it took only moments for Barret to shoot off again and Cloud slowed to a shivering stop.

Best not to get carried away while Barret was oversensitive.

“There you go, sweetheart,” Reno’s voice was trembling a little and his pulse was hammering in his throat. One glance over after rolling out of the cradle of heavy thighs made Cloud aware of how hard the Turk still was. “Look at you, all sweet and soft. You tired?”

Blinking heavy lids, the gunner tilted his head slightly to acknowledge this fact before taking a deep breath that seemed to flow through his whole body.

“That’s alright,” deceptively delicate fingertips slid over Barret’s face again, trailing over brows and scars, swiping gently over lips to cup the side of his face. “You can sleep if you want to. We’ll be here, alright?”

“Mm.”

With that, Reno turned his eyes to Cloud, and he was suddenly ridiculously aware of how hard he still was and the hunger in blue green eyes.

There was that feeling again, like a canary under the cat’s eye.

Some of the syrupy thickness burned away and Cloud felt himself reaching for Reno even as the other man slid carefully over Barret towards him. He ended up flat on his back with Reno in his lap before he clenched his stomach to lift enough to get a hand in that red hair and to let his lips get bitten at. The hand not occupied with perhaps his favorite features of his Turk was unbuttoning those dress pants to relieve the tension held within.

Letting out a sound of relief only a moment later, the redhead huffed a strangled laugh.

“Your dick’s just sitting out right now,” this seemed almost inordinately funny to the man and Cloud rolled his eyes and pulled him into another biting kiss. “You fucked him through two and you’re still goin’ strong _oh my god._ ”

“Idiot,” he muttered with perhaps more fondness than he meant to. “Shut up, Reno.

Snickering, the Turk rolled his hips in a way that made Cloud see stars before a hand braced on one of his shoulders and Reno _somehow_ wriggled out of his pants. That wasn’t how the human body was supposed to work how –

Oh.

Oh god _damnit_ Reno.

Noticing Cloud’s sudden preoccupation with the lacy underwear he was apparently now wearing – oh god that was on the _helicopter_ wasn’t it – Reno grinned knowingly and pulled the tie out of his hair. That white shirt slid _just_ off the curve of solid if wiry shoulders and it was all he could do not to bite into that pale skin.

The marks that he and Barret had put into him were already mostly faded and that just made him want to make _more_.

“Y’like it?” that infuriating smirk was on pretty, tattooed features and Cloud simply pulled him down for another kiss. “Mm, guess ya do.”

Asshole.

As if he couldn’t _tell_ how much Cloud liked it.

Reaching a hand to slid from narrow hips back to that perky ass the sound that escaped his throat was low and suddenly intensely interesting. There was a little cutout in the back of black silk and lace that let him slide his fingers against soft skin and between firm cheeks.

Reno shivered and cut off a sharp sound when callused fingertips dragged across his rim.

Then there was lube and teeth trailing across pale skin that healed slower than Cloud’s did, soft, unexpectedly quiet sounds from Reno as he was spread open on his own fingers. Cloud was busy dragging his short nails over mako soft skin and watching the way pale skin flushed pink. The way that red hair spilled over onto that oft ogled chest and brought his attention to those small peaked nipples. Periodically gripping that _hair_ and damnit Cloud _did_ have a huge thing for it and there was no turning back from that.

It was less sliding into Reno than it was Reno sliding onto him, clenched hands braced on his shoulders and slighter weight sat on his crossed legs. Cloud was still fully clothed other than his boots and he was pretty sure that was doing something for the redhead who was riding him.

Part of Cloud wished that he were just as naked as everyone else, that he could feel all that soft pale skin, know what the burn of Barret’s beard felt like. The cold metal of prothesis against the angles of him and touching like he had touched _them._

Next time, maybe.

“Fuck, oh shit,” was muttered by red bitten lips as Cloud put his hands on those hips and helped to lift Reno in time with the heady rhythm him had set. “Oh my god _Cloud_ –”

With mako burning in his veins and electricity prickling on his skin he got lost in the pressure and the rhythm and the taste of skin on his tongue.

He noted absently that when he came like this, Reno’s eyes flared with light momentarily, and he continued to ride Cloud through _his_ orgasm until he joined him.

Falling back onto the bed unable to hold himself upright anymore and Reno panting against his chest, Cloud took a few shaky breaths before he turned his head to meet Barret’s watching gaze. The man had one of his pillows rolled under his head and an arm curled under it. Most of that hazy quiet had faded from brown eyes and when he noticed Cloud looking at him, Barret quirked a lazy, pleased smile at him.

For a quick moment, Cloud felt his heart squeeze with fondness, something which repeated when Reno sighed and tucked his face against his neck.

_Oh, shit._

With a sudden, horrifying realization, Cloud came to the bizarre conclusion that he may have caught _feelings_ for these two. Why couldn’t it just be messing around with friends while they waited for the next crisis to prove how dangerous it was? Why couldn’t he just keep deluding himself for like, a week more? And never mention the way he’d been pining and staring at his phone like a teenager wondering if it was safe to call for a second date.

Cloud blamed Cid for _everything._ He was going to drink all of his tea wherever he found it, for like, a year.

He couldn’t blame Marlene. That was practically unconscionable.

With Reno wriggling off chest and to the side, breath warm and fingers idly running over the exposed skin of his stomach from where his shirt had ridden up, he took a breath.

Well… it could be worse, he guessed, as Barret rolled toward them and threw an arm over Reno’s damp shirt covered back. It could have been people as horrifying as Reeve and Rufus.

Ugh.

Gross.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When life give you mako pool make... a terraced garden? Who even writes this shit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really should be sleeping, but... I have not this self control thing.

~*~

Knelt next to the pool of mako, hand dripping Planet blood, Cloud scowled.

_Oh, fuck you too Aerith._

“What?” Barret had raised brows as he sat back with Reno, the two of them waiting for Cloud to finish the weird shit. “Why that face?”

He should have known that Aerith would use this opportunity to mess with him and had probably found this solution with the sole objective of making his life difficult. She was probably getting a real laugh in the Lifestream with Zack, and he hoped they choked on it.

Jerks.

“We…”

This shouldn’t be as embarrassing as it was, honestly.

“We?” Reno’s voice dragged out promptingly.

Sighing, Cloud gave up.

“We have to plant things at the edges of the pools.”

The WRO agents who had been hovering all seemed to stall, trading glances through their protective gear incredulously. Red brows raised as dark ones furrowed and then Reno was snickering, leaning against Barret for support and just. Dying.

“G-Gotta garden t’save th’fuckin’ world!” cackling and wheezing, the Turk didn’t seem to care that his accent was slipping worse. “Oh, man, yeah, this’s _definitely_ Li’l Miss Aerith’s fuckin’ plan!”

 _I hope Zack steps on your flowers_ , he thought as hard as he could, and was resigned to the sudden flashflood that hit them. _And that your hair_ knots _even in the Lifestream!_

So sue him, he could be a spiteful little shit when he wanted to be. He’d take getting soaked to the bone and people yelping and running around to protect equipment over just letting his dead friends mock him like this. Cloud was over that phase of his depression, thank you, and he had bigger and better things to lament than being laughed at over _gardening._

Staring at his two… something, he was decidedly unimpressed with the way that the two of them had jumped up in alarm.

Reno caught on first, giving Cloud a suspicious look before incredulity twisted slim brows while his clothing slicked down to his body. Not far behind was Barret, who simply opened his mouth for a moment before shaking a fist at the sky knowingly.

“You motherfucker,” Reno sounded impressed. “You just sassed the Flower Girl, didn’t you?”

Instead of answering, he started towards the helicopter and Fenrir therein. If it gave him a chance to walk past the two of them without having to look at a too tempting familiar scene that was just a bonus.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to flank him, and Cloud felt warmth and not-so reluctant fondness curl in his chest.

“So where we headed, Blondie?” despite the rain, arms lifted the link fingers behind that head of wet red hair. “Gotta make sure I got the fuel.”

“We’ll gas you up if he gotta,” the gunner on his right said. “Before we go take care of Miss Huffy’s mission.”

A crackle of thunder that somehow sounded _teasing_ before the sky began to clear as if it hadn’t been raining enough to drown a man a few seconds previous.

“The Ancient Forest,” he told them in explanation. “She’s got some seedlings budding there for us to take. We’ll plant one at the edge of each pool we find, and they should multiply on their own. Aerith said it’s the Planet trying to relieve pressure now that all the mako isn’t getting sucked up; the Planet was working overtime to try and keep up with getting drained. Now it’s a tight fit, and somehow this is going to speed up the process and not get anyone killed.”

“Ah,” plastered wet hair didn’t move when the Turk nodded sagely. “Magic bullshit.”

His lips quirked as Barret’s booming laugh rang out loudly and his blue eyes traveled over both of their amused faces.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Magic bullshit.”

Looking at the two of them now, it was almost difficult to think of the times he’d seen them at their worst.

He’d known Barret the longest other than Tifa out of their group and he _remembered_ just how violently guilt-ridden he had been. Remembered how he’d throw himself into things without fully thinking of the consequences of what it would mean if he was hurt or even killed. Remembered the way that he would have nightmares about the reactor failure and called names of people long dead.

Marlene had been all that held him together sometimes, her little hands, bright smiles, and worried big eyes. When he’d joined the family, Denzel had become another string to keep him from stepping off of a too high ledge he wasn’t built for.

Barret had been made for big family gatherings and sleeping on couches with children. He’d been made for hugs and laughter and knowing the gentle and good things in life and Cloud regretted all the loss he’d faced. While _he_ still struggled with his guilt and his identity on occasion, Tifa had somewhat managed to beat into his head – sometimes literally – that victim blaming didn’t help anyone.

They were all victims of one thing or another.

There were nights of quiet melancholy drinking with Cid while Tifa and Cloud watched, the kids long tucked into their beds.

Each of them had taken turns spilling the two older men into the guest bedroom and onto the couch to sleep off their grief. They’d lost a lot of things to Shinra, dreams and people and chances for better things consumed by a gluttonous conglomerate more than the monsters they’d created.

Cloud was glad to see him enjoying himself better, to know that he could find peace in things like handing over a bit of control to someone else. To be the one of the people he was willing to hand that control to.

With Reno, it… was a bit more complicated.

He was an actor, a showman, always had been for as long Cloud had known him, and as a Turk he’d learned to be one of the best. Most of the time, when he was on a mission, his face did exactly what he wanted it to. Most of the time.

Cloud remembered how he’d looked, after the Plate fell, that quiet, desperate anguish. For just a moment, Reno’s mask was cracked by fatigue. He thinks it had been enough.

Before the Geostigma, before the almost Reunion, Cloud had been nearly taken in by it even if he’d had his own doubts. From the first moment he’d met Reno, who was sly and canny and carefree to the first look, he’d been fighting against him. He’d been an enemy more often than he’d been an ally even if that had changed over the course of time and watching the manic energy that burned through him.

Sometimes, when he fell asleep in the bar and Rude wasn’t there, he’d have near silent nightmares, words too soft for anyone else to hear always what jolted the redhead awake.

_“Don’t drop it, don’t –”_

Cloud would always make sure to be looking the other way, to be focused on some menial task so that shaky quiet breaths could be taken. So that trembling hands could still, and a too quick heartbeat could slow with wakefulness.

They all had their burdens to bear, and some of them were heavy with graves and mistakes that could never be atoned for.

It took an argument with Barret, coincidentally, where they had both been more than a little drunk and maudlin and in the same space, to make Cloud aware of how deeply that trauma ran.

Normally, the nights where everyone was hurting and curling into their scars to pick at them until they were scabbed again, it was one side or another. Never Avalanche and Turk in the same space, never the chance for flames to ignite and more property damage than necessary.

Cloud didn’t remember exactly how the picking had been started, he’d been in the back, moving boxes at Tifa’s direction for stocking. He remembered hearing glass shatter and racing to the front as Barret’s voice had raised high with sharp anger. He remembered Cid looking wide eyed up at the man, lips pressed tight with words he wouldn’t say when he was drunk.

Cid was a quiet drunk. With Barret, however, it really depended on the subject matter and just _why_ he’d gotten drunk in the first place.

The words that the gunner had said then though, he had heard.

“ – you fuckin’ murdered ‘em all for petty cash!”

The glass that had shattered, he’d realized, was the one that Reno had been holding in his hand, blood dripping slowly and steadily onto the counter as he’d stared stone faced. It wasn’t odd to see him with an emotionless mask on, it wasn’t odd to see him drink quietly and then leave from that same spot without a word. Those were usually nights that if he fell asleep, he dreamed.

It was, however, strange to see those smooth, tattooed features twist into something ugly as the Turk stood.

In the dark corner where he always lurked on nights like this, Vincent stirred slightly.

“Yeah,” something cruel took the place of that ugliness, that bitter, bitter loathing. “Yeah I did, didn’t I?”

Reno didn’t notice or didn’t care about the glass that slid further through his flesh as he leaned against that hand on the bar, teeth bared.

“ _I_ murdered ‘em all,” he’d barked a laugh, short and sharp and cutting. “ _Just_ little old me! I made the big decision that thousands of people had to die!”

Barret’s chest had inflated with what was likely to be another incitement of aggression when Reno had lifted his bloody hand and slammed it into the red pooled countertop. Cracks split through the wood, crawling away from the impact point and blood slid into the new crevasses like rivers finding a new path.

“I killed ‘em,” voice suddenly impeccably calm, face smooth again but tired. So tired. “I killed ‘em.”

He’d grimaced, an awful twist of grief on his pretty face as he lifted his bloody, mangled hand to stare at the stains on his white cuff.

“They were my people,” he had almost analytically watched his blood soak the fabric thoroughly and dripped from his elbow. “I was born ‘neath that Plate. I had people down there. My – _You_ don’t get to say _shit_ when I know ‘xactly what I done.”

And then, as if the whole thing hadn’t just happened, he’d smiled and used his unbloodied hand to grab some money from his pocket and toss it onto a clean part of the counter. His eyes though, still looked just cracked enough that at the time Cloud had felt a juddering, awful realization.

Cloud had burned been a part of the reason that Nibelheim to the ground once. It hadn’t been by choice; it hadn’t been what he’d wanted. But his actions had ended in the deaths of nearly everyone he’d grown up with, and no matter how cruel they might have been at times, they’d still been his people.

“Sorry ‘bout the bar, Tifa,” had fallen from Reno’s lips as he turned away. “That should cover it.”

When he was out the door Vincent stood like a wraith and followed after him, likely to follow and make sure he went where he should. He might not have been a Turk anymore, but something in Vincent was still protective of the few they’d come to know. They’d fought each other often, and Elena was his favorite followed by Tseng, but he still understood them better than he did other people.

He would have made sure that his hand was healed, as well.

It was why Cloud hadn’t followed after him and had instead simply watched Barret slowly fall back into his chair and raise his flesh hand to his face. That whole large frame had slumped with a mixture of belated regret and embittered grief at the jab against his own shortcomings. Cid had released a long breath and rubbed his hands over his face, a dull sort of exhausted sympathy on his face that twisted with understanding.

“Shit,” had been all that Barret had said about it. “ _Shit._ ”

So yeah, things with Reno, see those brief glimpses of the man behind the cunning, humorous Turk façade was… nice. He didn’t know how the two of them had managed to become so friendly on that mission they’d fallen into together, but… he was glad of it.

It made Cloud feel like things really _were_ healing.

Like if the Planet could do it, so could the people.

With that in mind, if Aerith said that Gardening would help them save the Planet from the most recent crisis then Cloud would dig some holes and put seeds in them.

There were worse things to endure, after all, than laughter with people who deserved it and a trip to do something silly to save the world.

~*~

When they landed outside of the forest – telemetry apparently got weird trying to fly straight in – Cloud followed his feet.

Reno was humming off to one side, mag rod tapping idly against his shoulder as he looked at all the strange glowing foliage. Of course, he knew that the Turk had been there before, but there was something endlessly ethereal about this forest. On his other side, Barret was doing something similar, reaching up to tap at a bit of hanging white moss so that it swayed gently.

Little motes of light fell to burn out against dark skin and the man grinned delightedly, sunglasses not hiding the enthusiasm a lick.

A breeze rippled like laughter amongst the trees and _here_ he knew that he wasn’t the only one who heard it.

“This way,” he told them, changing direction a little as the redhead prowled a little closer. “We’re relatively close.”

He was correct in that, the small plants weren’t exactly in neat rows or anything and it was a _little_ creepy that when he stepped up to them, the flowers bloomed and seeds fell out. Apparently Barret thought similar because he shuddered and made a face at the sight of near sentience in flora.

“Why does crazy Planet magic have to be so fuckin’ weird?”

Another giggling gust of wind.

Cloud simply sighed tiredly, having no excuses or reasons for just about anything that happened in his life and especially not for _Aerith_. She could be vicious, but weird stuff generally meant Zack had been trying to come up with ideas again.

Never a good idea.

“I mean,” dread tickled his stomach as Reno spoke playfully. “She could have given us creepy tentacle monsters. I mean, we’ve all seen those anime –”

“Can you not?” grimacing at _this_ new disturbing mental imagery. “Why are you like this?”

Cackling, the Turk dropped down with the empty bag he’d been carrying to grab the slightly luminescent white seeds, before he sobered abruptly.

“You… you told her how many there are, right?”

“Yes.”

Something worried twitched red brows as he stared down at the pile.

“I mean, I know that Flower Girl’s a bit of an over achiever, but…”

“Ah man,” Barret caught on slightly quicker than Cloud. “How many of these pools do we gotta keep an eye out for _now_?”

Ah.

Shit.

“Damnit Aerith.”

Here, at least, he could feel the slightest sense of her apology, but at least it wasn’t like he had to go mako diving to plant these things. Just dig some holes within distance and hope that the roots of magic bullshit hooked into place. Still, he could practically picture Zack laughing at him from behind Aerith’s back, the portrayal of how both of them _actually_ felt about this.

There were at _least_ a hundred seeds getting dumped into the little bag that Reno had brought and now they were going to have to _find_ them so that they plant things next to them.

This was his life.

Literally, just his life.

“I wish it were Sephiroth again,” he mused morosely. “At least _he_ found _me_.”

Barret clapped him on the shoulder in solidarity before simply saying:

“ _No_.”

When they got back to the helicopter with the seeds and Reno had picked a weird flower he said he was gonna press in a book, Cloud felt something odd.

The other two had already made their way back into the chopper and were getting buckled in when Cloud realized what was strange. Reno was pulling out those Soldier class earmuffs when the whole helicopter tilted to one side alarmingly and the swordsman caught a grip underneath it to keep it in place.

The ground warped like mud for a moment before it crumbled like pie crust and Cloud found himself in mako up to his knees holding the helicopter up _entirely. That_ was a strain he hadn’t encountered since his body had finished adjusting to augmentation and Jenova had been washed out of his blood.

Fuck, this really wasn’t the position to hold a couple tons of weight up in.

Ah, oh, good.

He was sinking.

_Aerith why the fuck –_

“Get this thing in the air!” he ordered loudly, skin stinging and burning where it was submerged, the metal of the struts hissing and popping as mako started to eat at it. “I can’t hold it up for much longer.”

His head was spinning, and his heart was shuddering in his chest while energy fizzled across his nerves like lightning in a bottle.

_Go go go go_

Gritting his teeth as Reno went through the sequence quickly and grimly, Barret calling out for Cloud to hold on.

“Just a minute, just a minute Cloudy!”

And –

_Whoomp-whoomp whoomp-whoomp hum._

The weight began to lift from his aching hands, and he felt his shoulder twinge painfully from being wrenched, back a quickly disappearing ache from the angle he’d tilted himself at. Picking up altitude quickly, Cloud waited for the helicopter to get steady enough in the air that he judged he could risk unbalancing it momentarily.

World slightly hazy around the edges with mako green he felt the fumes in his lungs tingle and the pressure of Aerith urging him faster.

Near stumbling out of the mako pool that was still spreading out further, Cloud made it to stable ground before he made his leap. The helicopter was hovering just on the edge of his range when he grabbed one of those partially melted mako covered struts.

The minor discomfort of his hand was nothing compared to how his legs were currently feeling, tingling pinching pain and that cold burn he hated. Twisting himself into the hold when metal groaned warningly under his grip, Cloud quickly struggled out of his mako soaked boots and socks. His hands were starting to shake with the sudden influx in his system, like he’d taken a drug and was suddenly in withdrawal.

The world was getting fuzzy and everything tasted like menthol and lemons, making his mouth dryer than the last time he’d touched mako.

Had that only been earlier that day? It felt like forever, suddenly.

There was a _definite_ different between the surface area of a palm and his legs from the knee down, and he’d absorbed more than he should have. Cloud could survive it. Getting dunked in the Lifestream was practically something he could put on a resume as a degree, but it would be a bitch for a few hours.

Yeah, give him Sephiroth _any_ day _._

Shakes were already starting, and he panted as his body overheated quickly before chilling quickly, overcompensating as his internal thermostat went haywire. Large, familiar hands of flesh and metal helped him get his pants open and then moved away so that he could push them down himself.

 _Barret_.

He couldn’t be exposed to that much mako, but he also didn’t know how to fly a helicopter in _any_ way resembling competently.

“It’s okay Cloudy,” that familiar, trusted voice told him as his glowing eyes rolled back in his head and he clenched his jaw as his whole body tensed. “We gotcha. We’re heading to see Nanaki, don’t worry.”

Yeah, yeah, Nanaki could help with the mako poisoning. Reno could land, and he could help take care of the contaminated clothing.

Clenching his hands together to prevent him from grabbing anyone, he inadvertently smeared the remaining mako onto his other hand.

Metal curled over his hands gently and he realized that Barret was holding his hands with his prosthetic while the flesh hand curled through now sweat damp hair.

Well, Cloud was sure there were worse ways to be half naked in a helicopter, he just couldn’t think of them. He could think of the better ways, and he was suitably offended that _this_ was how it happened inside the helicopter when they managed fine outside of it.

_Fuck. Everything._

~*~

When he woke up next – he’d slept more in the past few days than he had in weeks – it was to Reno draped across him like a bony blanket. For a long moment Cloud simply breathed, relishing in the skin contact and the slow beat of his heart.

Nothing hurt anymore and he was mostly naked wrapped in blankets and it definitely smelled like Cosmo Canyon outside. This _particular_ blend of fresh vegetation, motor oil and weed, well, it was kind of hard to misidentify.

“Hey,” turning his head to meet Reno’s eyes, he saw that the other man was completely awake. “You feelin’ better?”

“Yeah.”

Relief and a small smile spread across pretty features before Reno pressed closer for a comfortable, casual kiss.

Oh, this was nice.

Just woken up kisses were apparently his _thing_ , huh. Not a kink like apparently ordering people around was or tossing them around.

Rolling into him, Cloud noticed that Reno was just in some briefs – he was both relieved and disappointed – and he had dark bruises spattered on his torso and arms. Blanching at the sight, he immediately knew that they had come from either restraining or cleaning him up while he was under the mako blackout. Those were handprints, fingers digging deep and a smidge lighter at the palm where the bones hadn’t ground in.

Some people took mako laced drugs in small doses to feel what Cloud did from poisoning, and he would never understand why.

There was so much _risk._

This, _this_ was why he was worried about hurting the kids someday.

“I –”

“ _Please_ don’t go maudlin hero on me, Blondie,” Reno looked tired but amused. “I’ve had worse, and that’s from conscious people _trying_ to hurt me. Hell, _you’ve_ done worse trying to kill me. This’s all surface stuff. If you want to apologize uselessly to anyone, apologize to Barret for breaking his hand.”

He froze, eyes widening in horror before Reno cracked up and hid his face against his chest.

“The _metal_ one, you fuckin’ moron.”

Ah.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Ah, jeez,” he wheezed out a laugh at Cloud’s expense, but he couldn’t say that he minded, not when the puffs of air pressed over his clavicle. Further maiming Barret was not on his to-do list. “And don’t worry about the magic seeds, your pals are takin’ care of the ones we know of. Apparently, they become those big ass trees from the creepy bullshit magic forest. Kinda pretty if you’re into that sci-fi shit, but also they may grow faces and start talking. I’m not gonna get too comfortable with ‘em.”

Curling an arm carefully over that bruised torso, Cloud sighed even as he heard the floorboards creak with a familiar tread and gate.

“How’s your hand, Barret?” twisting his head, he was pleasantly surprised by the immediate kiss laid on him.

“I’m fine, Spiky,” he held up the empty port for the arm a bit sheepishly, grimacing. “Cid’s workin’ on it right now. Needed some things replaced, what with the mako in the joints and getting in the way of you breaking more of the helicopter on the way over. Didn’t fancy fallin’ out of the sky.”

“You should have _seen_ the WRO guys who came to get the chopper for repairs!” Reno sounded ridiculously delighted. “Ya left handprints indented everywhere, _and_ you kicked out a door. The way they were looking at it was like it was gonna get up and gut ‘em. Never seen a grunt shit himself so quick.”

Yeah, he was _entirely_ too entertained by that idea.

Sighing exasperatedly, but relieved that that was the most his reaction had been in comparison to getting them all killed or breaking anyone irreparably.

Falling out of the sky was at least something they’d avoided. Unlike spontaneous mako pools.

“Cid and Vinnie gave me a shovel talk,” Barret suddenly said apropos of nothing, curled against Cloud’s back. “It was actually kinda terrifying.”

Snorting, but a little warmed by the thought, Cloud pet his fingers over the back of the dark hand settled on Reno’s side.

“What did they say?” he couldn’t help the morbid curiosity.

To be honest, weird parentally instinctive reactions in regard to Cid aside, he’d never considered either of them particularly intimidating. Sure, Vincent could be creepy and macabre, but to most people he looked like a lost cosplayer.

“Well, first off, Vinnie was smoking and didn’t have his cloak on,” which, considering how much of his musculature that stupid cloak hid, was probably oddly intimidating in and of itself. Also, smoke had weird reflections in his red eyes, and no one knew why. “While polishing his gauntlet arm.”

Wow, not even a gun but aiming for threats of full on disembowelment.

Cloud suddenly felt very much loved.

“Cid was tinkerin’ with my arm by that point and he did _something_ that made the whole thing start squirming like it was getting tortured,” Barret actually sounded a bit disturbed at that. Considering it was usually attached to him, Cloud could sort of understand why _that_ was threatening. “Then he looked up at me and said that they both used to work for Shinra as the best in their fields, and that was a lot of ground to cover between the two of them.”

Oh, yeah, okay, that wasn’t terrifying in the least.

“Then they threatened to tell Shera if I stepped outta line.”

 _Well,_ he mused with a sigh. _At least I know they care_.

“You’ve got some overprotective friends there Blondie,” Reno seemed amused at the whole thing.

“Oh, it was for you, too, Red,” now it was _Barret’s_ turn to seem pleased by this shovel talk, despite being the one threatened. “I’m apparently the biggest target here.”

Wide blue-green eyes stared at the large man stroking his hand absently over his ribcage, as if he’d never heard of the concept.

All things considered… Cloud honestly wouldn’t be too surprised if Reno had never had a relationship before that _required_ a shovel talk. It wasn’t like he was any better, what with the years of obsessing over a man who went bugnuts alien crazy, identity crisis, and then years of depression. Oh, having to kill the same asshole a second time because his evil triplets were all hot for alien grandma.

Not a lot of time for recreational activities when you’re sorting what memories are actually yours and what were inherited from your dead best friend.

God, their lives kind of sucked sometimes.

“Cid thinks you’re funny,” Cloud pointed out, taking his own enjoyment out of this, turning sharply away from thoughts of a darker connotation. “And Shera likes that you call her Mrs. Hot Rocket. Vincent is kind of protective of all the Turks, not just Elena although she gets the most swaddling.”

Still, Reno looked bewildered.

“Oh yeah, and _then,_ Rude and Tifa called.”

Oh god.

“ _No._ ”

“Yep,” totally disregarding the horror in Cloud’s voice, Barret continued on, less disturbed by remembering _this_ talk than the other one. “Tifa said that you should eat as much ice cream as you want, and Rude says that ‘No, I will not send you your favorite teddy’.”

“Damn,” Reno swore as Cloud nearly swallowed his tongue. “I was hopin’ to get you and Blondie all hot and bothered.”

“You don’t need lingerie for that, Reno,” words dry, he tilted his head back against Barret. “You do pretty well on your own.”

“Well,” he doubted anyone else would have noticed the little pleased pause, but Cloud felt his heart stutter slightly. “I _am_ pretty smokin’, yeah. Thought I’d give you a treat, though.”

“Another time,” he muttered, knowing that he should get up but not wanting to make anyone else move. “When I’m not just out of mako poisoning.”

“Eh, guess that’s fair. We could dress up Barret too,” a sound of interest. “I’m thinking some of that body paint, and something in _leather_ that’s more strap than not. How about you?”

Oh, yes, well, that _was_ a thought, wasn’t it?

“ _Mm_.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

Without saying anything, Barret buried his face in Cloud’ hair and released a warm breath, lips curling against his scalp. Looked like he was on board with this plan as well.

Just had to make sure not to fall into anymore mako pools and Cloud was sure he’d be able to make it to this particular party. While he didn’t have any interest in dressing in women’s clothing or in leather clothing, he would certainly enjoy the dichotomy of these two bookends.

This was nice though, and despite how he should get up, their comforting weight made him favor just staying in bed.

“Oh, yeah,” was muttered into his hair. “Yuffie’s on her way.”

Shit.

“Everyone up.”

“Wh – hey!”

“Aw, c’mon, Cloudy!”

“No, Yuffie barging in on us is not a horror I need to deal with. I won’t hear the end of it for _years_. Now get up. Where are my clothes?”

While the joint disappointed groaning was gratifying, Cloud was _not_ going to inflict that trauma on himself.

He had enough already.

~*~

Hands behind his head, Cloud listened to the whispering of plants swaying together.

It had been weeks since they’d had a new mako pool pop up, but they had more seeds to plant still. They’d gotten it down to a science, responding and then planting the trees – which sometimes were fruit bearing, which made Reeve crazy – so that the mako wasn’t exposed anymore.

No one had eaten the fruit yet, but they just waiting for some moron to mutate into something horrifying.

The pools didn’t show up in any particular areas, really, but there was generally close enough to where the reactors were to make sense.

So, they were relaxing.

They were in Rocket Town for a barbeque and he could smell the meat and veggies grilling from where he was, Cid and Barret arguing over the use of marinades. The sun was warm on his face and while the grass and moss under him was a little damp from a morning shower, it was dry enough that his body heat would burn it off soon enough.

Listening to all the ruckus, Cloud let himself unwind.

Over there, Vincent and Shera were setting out fruits and salads while Yuffie lingered about trying to steal snacks. Marlene and Denzel were running around with some of the local kids, playing some obscure form of tag that involved squirt bottles. In the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the deserts, Tifa and Rude were talking about adjusting their workout routines for the visit.

Tucked away in a shady spot in a lawn chair was Tseng, speaking quietly with Nanaki about Wutaian literature, and the way that certain prose reflected phases of life. Not too far away from them Reeve, Elena, and Rufus – Cloud didn’t _quite_ feel like smashing his teeth through his face anymore – were organizing another charity event.

Not exactly relaxing conversation in his opinion, but to each their own, he supposed.

And Reno –

Well, _he_ whooped and jumped on Barret from behind, drawing their third out of his pointless argument with Cid. Who usually won, anyway.

The redhead murmured something in the gunner’s ear that was too quiet for Cloud to hear, which made him sigh in amusement as they started his way.

Something dropped onto his chest before the two fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and playful swearing. Sometimes he felt like the straight man in a comedy skit with these two, but other times he and Reno raced climbing a cliff face and Barret lamented. Or the three of them got to arguing about mechanical repairs, guns vs. swords vs. improvised melee and things devolved from there.

Opening his eyes, he blinked down at the earthy, nutty smell of a sunflower, bright yellow petals on a flower the size of his head brushing his chin.

“What’s this for?” he asked, bemused.

Reno gasped theatrically, hand to his chest before Barret shoved him over Cloud to his other side.

“Oomph,” he grunted before he rolled and stuck his tongue out at Barret who quirked a brow in return. “ _Any_ way,” looking at Cloud he affected another wounded look. “How can Flower Girl’s Second Fiddle ask me that?”

“Oh fuck you,” laughing, he shoved at Reno’s too earnest face before grabbing the flower off his chest. “Why’d you give it to me?”

“To see that,” Barret was leaned comfortably on his flesh arm and pointed a metal finger at Cloud’s face, looking pleased with himself. “So I think we did okay.”

Blinking in surprise, he brought the hand not holding the flower to his face and realized that he was smiling. Ah.

Heat pulled gently at his cheeks and he tried to turn away only to find himself caught in the fond gaze of the redhead on his other side. There was no escape, because the redhead simply leaned up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth before grasping his jaw gently to tip him toward Barret, who mirror the kiss on the other side. His beard tickled a little and that just made Cloud smile more.

God damn, his heart felt full.

“Shit,” he muttered letting his head fall back against the grass and lifting the giant flower to hide his face. “Where did you even get this?”

“Stole it from a lady down the road.”

“ _Re_ no.”

“Okay, so, I _bought_ it from her,” rolling his eyes her rolled onto his front, chin propped up in his hands. “I was feelin’ a bit nostalgic, is all.”

The wind slid through the bushes behind them, rustling tellingly through Reno’s hair, and his eyes widened before he looked away, down at the grass.

There might still be somethings to work on, but…

Cloud was sure of one thing.

Domesticated cats were an oxymoron, and he wouldn’t have these strays any other way than he did right now. Reno burying his face against Cloud’s shoulder, breath shuddering slightly with things he probably would never talk about. Cloud pulling Barret down to do the same on the other side with an easy tug that had the man’s breath catching.

Yeah. Tame, feral, a little traumatized, they were all messed up.

Still, the day smelled like new growth and family, spring rain fading away as the sun rose high in the sky, the soft mix of grass and moss a novel cushion beneath them. His… _whatever’s_ , his partners, had bought him a flower to see him smile just because they could, and a little bit of sentimentality. The kids were screaming with laughter and not fear, the strongest people on the Planet were all together and willing to do what was needed.

There was no ‘us vs them’ anymore, and everyone was on the side of humanity.

Nothing was perfect. No one was without flaws.

And Cloud was happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Uh. Yeah.


End file.
